Gravity Falls Season 3
by zowater
Summary: Dipper and Mabel Pines have spent the last six summers visiting Gravity Falls and exploring the mysteries. But now the twins are adults and are coming to the recently built college of Gravity Falls. But there are still more mysteries left to be explored.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Hello my name is Dipper, well that is what most people call me. I'm your average teenager, because I am still technically a teenager according to my twin sister Mabel. A few things about me I was raised on California and nothing interesting happened, until the summer of my thirteenth birthday. Now that is where my life changed. And it all started in a place called Gravity Falls.

My parents decided that my sister and I needed to have some outside time. So they shipped us off to a town in Oregon. A town known as Gravity Falls. My great uncle Stan lived there and ran a mystery shack, though all of his displays were fake. It looked like it was going to be an awful summer. That was until I discovered something. In the forest just outside the Mystery Shack I found a tree with a secret compartment and that secret compartment there was a journal with a six fingered hand on the cover, labeled three. And that is how my adventures started.

Gravity Falls was full of strangeness. From Gnomes to dinosaurs. There is even an alien ship under Gravity Falls. Mabel and I began to explore all the secrets we could of Gravity Falls. My biggest mission was learning who the author of that journal was. In those adventures I gained enemies and friends. The biggest enemy was a triangular shaped demon named Bill, yes Bill. Mabel and I worked together and we defeated him twice. And then the day came when everything changed.

Our Great Uncle Stan was arrested by men from the government and we learned that he wasn't what we had grown to love. We even found that there was a newspaper article about a Stan Pine's death in a car crash. We began to doubt that he was our real Grunkle Stan. To make it worse we learned that he had a machine that we were told was a doomsday device.

Luckily we were, I was wrong. Mabel trusted Grunkle Stan and in the end our Great Uncle Ford was brought back to our dimension. Our Grunkle Stan was our Grunkle Stan he was just one of our Grunkle Stans. Sorry that is probably confusing. You see the Grunkle Stan we had spent time with for so long had told us he was Stanford but really he was our Great Uncle Stanley. Stanford was his twin brother who had built the machine and then gotten pulled into it. Our Great Uncle Ford was also the author of the journals. And then he joined in our journey and adventures. All leading up to our last week of that first summer. Bill came back and tore the universe apart, at least for Gravity Falls which is why most people don't know about those events.

We managed to defeat Bill, thanks to Grunkle Stan and the world was saved. Bill was gone for good and we had to say goodbye to Gravity Falls. At least for that year. Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford went out on a treasure hunt and Mabel and I went back to California. Over the next five years Mabel and I would come back to Gravity Falls and help out at the Mystery Shack, now run by our good friend Soos, and continue to explore the mysteries. In fact I started my own journals documenting all my adventures.

But now the world sees Mabel and I as adults and we are now enrolled in college. But we both decided together to make our next journey at the Gravity Falls University. In fact Grunkle Ford teaches there. I'm going to be taking classes from him with my Paranormal major. And now my new journey is going to begin, and I am sure that there will be many surprising mysteries to explore in my new life.

Mabel threw her bag onto her new bed. "COLLEGE LIFE!" She flung herself onto the bed next to the bag. "DIPPER GET IN HERE!"

"Calm down Mabel." Mabel's twin brother walked in. He put his own bag at the foot of his bed. Dipper took off his pine tree hat and set it on the desk next to his bed along with his journal. A pine tree was on the cover of the journal with the number two written on it. "We're not children anymore."

Mabel blew a raspberry at him and then laughed and rolled around. "Come on Dipper can't you loosen up?"

Dipper just rolled his eyes and then began to write in his journal.

"Come on Dipper! Let's go explore the campus! Maybe we can find Great Uncle Ford!"

"Why don't you go." Dipper continued to write.

"Come on!" Mabel wrapped her arms around his neck. "PLEASE!"

Dipper sighed. "Alright fine." He closed his journal and slid it into his coat pocket. He really took after Ford. Mabel grinned and grabbed his arm and then dragged him out of the room and off to explore.

The two of them had moved into a dorm room together on campus. They did have the option to move to the mystery shack and commute to campus but it seemed weird to come and invade on Soos's home. Especially since he now had his own son running around under foot. They also could have moved in with with their Grunkle Stan and Ford but Dipper had decided that living with his professor would make him stand out more than he wanted to.

And so they found themselves walking through the halls of the dorms. And after a few moments they heard a familiar voice. Standing at the end of the hallway was a woman with long blonde hair wearing a purple dress and llama earrings.

"Pacifica!" Mabel rushed towards the girl and flung her arms around the girl's neck.

"Get off me." Pacifica grumbled and pushed her away. "Gezz Mabel I've told you a hundred times I don't do hugs."

"Oh come on Pacifica!" Mabel laughed.

Pacifica just rolled her eyes. "Hey Dipper."

"Hey Pacifica." He smiled. "So you're coming to school here as well?"

"What did you expect?" She folded her arms over her chest. "My dad helped fund this school now that he got his fortune back."

"Well him and Grunkle Ford!" Mabel laughed.

"Yeah Yeah." Pacifica waved her hand. "Now if you would excuse me I need to get moved in." She opened a door leading into a single room.

"Okay bye Pacifica!" Mabel didn't lose a beat as she set off to continue searching.

"See you Dipper." Pacifica called after him.

Dipper smiled and Mabel grinned. "It's nice to have old friends here right!" She started walking backward. "And did you see she was wearing the earrings we sent her for her birthday!"

"Yeah I noticed that." Dipper said. "Now let's go find out what our new home is like." He took the lead, easily able to outpace the backwards walking Mabel. "I'm sure mom and dad will be happy to hear what our new life is going to be like."

"I can't wait to call them and tell them!" Mabel laughed. "I bet they won't believe all the crazy stuff I'll tell them about."

"They haven't believed us for the last five years so I'm sure they won't now, but that doesn't matter." Dipper looked around.

Classes didn't start for a week but Dipper had already memorized the map of the campus and his own schedule. "Come on Mabel let's go find our classes."

"Let's go party instead!" Mabel raised her hands. "Start our first college party!"

Dipper just rolled his eyes and then headed towards the classroom he was sure Mabel would be excited for. It was an average sized classroom and sitting at the desk in the front of the room was an old man wearing glasses and taking a nap.

"Great Uncle Ford!" Mabel yelled out and ran towards him.

"Huh?" He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Dipper? Mabel?"

"Hey Great Uncle Ford." Dipper walked up as Mabel hugged the old man. "Shouldn't you be working on the class schedule?"

"I have already finished that." He stretched his hands over his head as he yawned. "So are you two all moved in?"

"Yep!" Mabel grinned. "OUr room is awesome! I'm just trying to convince Dipper to help me plan our first college party!"

Ford laughed. "Oh college." He smiled. "I remember those years fondly. You know life before the whole trapped in another dimension experience." He laughed. "You two should come join Stan and I for dinner sometime soon."

"Sounds fun!" Mabel said. "Right Dipper!"

"Yeah." Dipper looked at Ford. "So are we going to be exploring all the-." Dipper was interrupted as the door opened.

"Hello?" A woman walked in. She had short black hair and wore a golden chain around her neck, the pendant part tucked into her collar. "Professor Pines."

"How can I help you?" Ford asked standing up.

"I was sent to fetch you." She looked at Mabel and Dipper. "Dean Ice sent for you." She looked at Ford. "Something to do with your request the other day."

"Ah right." Ford said. "Dipper why don't you come with me, this has to do with you."

"Really?"

"He's Dipper Pines?" The girl looked him up and down. "FIne, come on." She turned and started walking.

"Who's she?" Dipper asked as he followed Ford. Mabel followed behind them.

"Her name is Bree Ice. She is the granddaughter of the dean. Basically she helps the dean out as well as goes to this school. Actually she is the same age as you two." Ford said. "Be careful of her, I'm pretty sure she is a spy for the Dean."

"Trust no one." Dipper smiled.

Ford laughed. "Glad to know that you remember those old words."

"Of course." Dipper said. He kept walking and watched as a bird with grey feathers and a red belly landed on Bree's shoulder. It sat there for a moment and then flew away. A few minutes later they arrived at a door with a plaque that said Dean. Bree opened the door and led them into a simple room.

An older woman sat at the desk looking over papers and files. "Hello Pines."

"Hello Veronica." Ford said walking in. "So you're finally getting back to me?"

"The answer is no."

"Hang on." Ford frowned.

"The boy in question is a freshman. And you already have an assistant, your twin brother a Stanley Pines." She looked at a file. "You don't need an apprentice."

"Hang on." Ford frowned. "Dipper is my great nephew, he already has more than enough experience to help out. Besides Stan and I are getting older. A younger assistant would be helpful."

The woman, Veronica Ice, looked up from her file and eyed Dipper and Mabel. "I take it the boy in question is this one."

"Yes." Dipper said. "I'm Dipper Pines."

"And tell me, what is your 'experience' with the supernatural and paranormal?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "What makes you qualified to be Pines' TA?"

Dipper smiled. "I've spent the last six summers exploring Gravity Falls and all its mysteries. Plus I helped my Great Uncle Ford multiple times." Dipper puffed up his chest. "I even helped save the world from another dimension's demon."

"I see." She frowned. "What do you think Bree?"

"Seeing as he is related to Professor Pines I don't see why it is a problem. Except for one thing." She frowned. "He's in Professor Pines' class and if he is expected to grade his own papers."

"You're right… Very well. Pines I will allow it on one condition. Bree will have to be your second TA."

Ford frowned but sighed. "Alright then."

Bree nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow then." She turned and walked out. Dipper watched her.

Bree Ice returned to her room in the dorms and sat down on her bed. She pulled out a folder from under her pillow. It was labeled Pine. She opened it and found a picture of two young children and and old man. "Dipper, Mabel and Stan Pines." She folded her arms. "It is time that I learn the truth. Isn't that right my friend?" She tugged on the golden chain lightly. "I promise I will learn the truth… and I will figure out how to help you." She closed the folder and slid it back under her mattress and laid back on her bed. "Dipper and Mabel Pines. Welcome back to Gravity Falls."


	2. Chapter 2

Dipper woke up and found Mabel already gone. He rubbed his face and sat up. Sitting on the desk was a small folded up pink piece of paper with a heart design along the edge. He opened it.

Dipper,

I'm going to meet up with Candy and Grenda for breakfast. I'll meet up with you later.

Have a good day

Mabel

Dipper rolled his eyes but pulled his normal days clothes on. He wore a simple grey t shirt with a navy blue vest over it, jeans and then to top it off he wore a blue and white hat with a pine tree on it. Pulling on his shoes he grabbed his backpack and headed out. Today was the first day of classes and Dipper wanted a good start. Of course that meant getting so food. Luckily the campus had a cafeteria where you could buy breakfast, lunch and dinner. Since his great uncle was a staff member Dipper got all his meals at half price.

The cafeteria was packed with people already. So it took Dipper a few minutes to actual get his pancakes.

"Hey Dipper."

The sudden voice almost made Dipper drop his plate. "W-Wendy?" He turned to see the woman he used to have a big crush on. He had met her his first summer in Gravity Falls when she worked at the Mystery Shack. He had spent that whole summer with a giant crush and truthfully even the next summer, but after seeing her date other guys he had finally gotten over her. But she was still one of his best friends. In fact the two of them had a tradition to exchange hats during summer. She would have his hat during the school year and he would have hers. And during the summer they would trade back. This was the first year they hadn't done that, since he hadn't moved back to California at the end of this summer.

Wendy hadn't really grown much over the past five years. She maybe had gained a couple inches but for the most part she was the same height she had been when they first met. Unlike Dipper. He had grown to the point that he was now taller than her, by a few inches at least. Wendy herself wore a red t-shirt with a band logo Dipper didn't recognize and jeans. Over that she had a checkered green button up light jacket. Her hair had recently been cut short to where it almost brushed her shoulders.

Wendy laughed. "Did I scare you? Didn't think I was Bill did you?" She smirked.

"Only if you had called me Pine tree." Dipper smiled. "I just wasn't expecting to see you here. Don't you still live with your family? I thought that is why you choose to go to Gravity Falls Universtiy?"

Wendy shrugged. "Yeah, but we were out of breakfast foods so instead of waiting for my dad to get back from the store I decided to come here. Plus I was hoping to run into you."

Dipper smiled. "I'm glad to see you too. What class do you have first today?"

"Business 305." Wendy said as they walked towards a table together. "Nothing special. What about you?"

"Ford's class." Dipper smiled.

"Oh that's right you wanted to get a paranormal studies degree right?"

"Yeah." Dipper smiled. "Which means most of my classes are going to be with Ford."

"Do you have any classes with Gilroy?" Wendy asked as she ate. "Or Johnson?"

Dipper pulled out his schedule. "Oh yeah. I've got History of the Paranormal with Johnson and Demon Mythology with Gilroy."

"I hope you're not just taking your major's classes." Wendy smiled. "Trust me it's not fun."

Dipper smiled. "Don't worry, I'm only taking three classes for my major this semester. I'm also taking calculus and English."

"Oh! Who do you have for english?" Wendy looked over at the paper in front of Dipper. "Nice, McCully is great. I took that class from him and it was an easy A. Not that you probably have to worry about any of your classes." Wendy laughed. "Are you and Mabel taking any classes together?"

"Just english." Dipper smiled. "We aren't exactly in the same major."

"Really?" Wendy frowned. "But the two of you make a good team."

Dipper shrugged. "Mabel has her own plans."

"I guess that shouldn't surprise me." Wendy looked at his paper. "Hey it looks like we both have lunch at about the same time on Tuesdays, we should meet up for lunch sometime."

"Sounds good." Dipper smiled.

After they finished their breakfast Dipper said goodbye and headed towards Ford's classroom. He was the first one there, well besides Ford.

Ford was setting out some of his spoils from different travels, including a cyclops skull. Ford wore his normal long brown jacket over a green sweater vest. Actually Dipper recognized the sweater. Mabel had sent it to him for Christmas. "Hey Grunkle Ford."

"Dipper!" Ford smiled. "Glad to see you." He slapped Dipper on the back with a large six fingered slap. Dipper almost went stumbling forward. "Find a seat. Find a seat."

Dipper smiled and sat in the front row, pulling out his notebook. It didn't take long for more students to come walking in. Right as the bell rang Bree came walking in. Including Dipper and Bree there were twenty two students.

"Welcome!" Ford smiled and clapped his hands together. "To Paranormal Studies 101. My name is Standford Pines. You can call me Professor Ford or Professor Pines."

Dipper glanced around. Many of the students didn't look too excited, but Dipper's eyes were mostly drawn to Bree. She was sitting in the back row scribbling notes in a yellow notebook. Dipper wondered what she was already writing.

"I became interested in the paranormal when I was a kid." Ford continued his introduction while holding up his hand. "I was born with six fingers oddly but because of that I learned many of the secrets of this world." Ford held up a notebook. "As you saw on the course syllabus, at least if you really looked at it, I expect each of you to have a journal that you keep track of your findings. This will be your final at the end of class. You will be required to write in it during every class and if you see anything around this town you will want to write your notes in the journal as well.

Now this is for extra credit, but you can have a code in your book, also known as a cipher, that has your thoughts or notes. It should be a real cipher. An example of this is the Caesar cipher." He pulled up an image on the board. "Now then let's go over some of the assignments and what is expected of you in this class."

⁂※⁂※⁂※⁂※⁂※⁂※⁂※⁂※

Caesar A-3

Mabel Pines hugged her notebook as she left her first class for the day. She was excited for that class, Fashion Design 101 for Design Majors. She looked down at the notebook and paused. Tapped to the cover was a picture from a few years ago. Her and Waddles. Tears threatened to spill out. Waddles had died a few years ago. Unfortunately Pigs didn't live very long.

Mabel shook her head. Waddles wouldn't want her to cry for him. In fact she was currently wearing her waddles inspired shirt. Her teacher had even complimented Mabel when she realized Mabel had designed and made the shirt herself. Mabel hurried towards her next class. As she rounded a corner she froze. A man wearing a dark grey suit was walking towards her. He had short neatly trimmed brown hair and glasses. He gave her the chills. There was nothing that really stood out about him and he looked relatively normal, but something about him was off.

The man looked up and frowned. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing." Mabel forced a smile and then hurried on towards her history class. She glanced over her shoulder as he kept walking. He seemed observed in the book he was reading. It looked old and beat up.

"Mabel!"

A voice jolted Mabel out of her thoughts. Standing down the hallway was a boy she had met during the summer. He had blond hair that he had died green and blue eyes. "Marcus!" Mabel smiled and hurried over to him. "Hey."

"You look a little shaken, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Mabel grinned. I'm just pulling a Dipper and being paranoid. Mabel told herself. "Let's go to class."

"Sounds good." He laughed and the two of them walked into their classroom. Mabel sat in the front row and set out her notebooks and pens. She wasn't as excited for American History but she was excited to have a friend in the class.

"Mabel!" Another voice called out.

A boy with black hair spiked sat on her other side. "Gabe!" Mabel smiled. She had met him at the beginning of summer. "You're in this class too."

"Looks like it." He set out his notebook. "I'm looking forward to this class."

"Hi I'm Marcus." Marcus leaned forward across Mabel's desk. "You are?"

"Gabe." He smirked. "Nice to meet you. How long have you known Mabel?"

"A few days." Marcus didn't look very happy.

"I've known her since Summer." Marcus smiled.

Mabel looked between the two of them, confused at their darker tones of voices. "Um… Guys the teacher is coming in now." She said. Both sat back in their seats. Mabel just shrugged and got ready to learn.

FROOHJH OLIH LV JRLQJ WR EH LQWHUHVWLQJ

And here is chapter two. See if you can figure out the code. Starting from now on there will be a code as well as the key to figure out the code in each chapter. See if you can figure it out. The key to the code will be threaded in the text somewhere. This one is easier to find starting next chapter it won't be as easy.  
Also the code will always be at the end. Enjoy. Also feel free to comment questions I will answer all questions (just maybe not in a way to spoil. Would love to hear your comments.  
Also for help with the cipher feel free to look at the website- /

Also I drew Bree, here is a link- art/Bree-Ice-Colored-633021304


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Dipper sat back and scribbled down some notes while his teacher- Professor Gilroy- ranted about the dangers of summoning demons. He had been ranting for most of class about students who summoned demons because of dares and thinking it was fake. Dipper just continued to think of Bill Cipher. It had been years since Bill's defeat but all the talk of demons left Dipper feeling nervous.

Professor Gilroy pushed his glasses up as the bell rang and sighed. He ran a hand through his neatly trimmed brown hair. "Fine, just make sure you read the first chapter in your textbook." He waved his hand and then walked over to his desk and began to gather up his stuff.

Dipper gathered his stuff quickly and left the classroom. As he glanced over his shoulder he noticed Professor Gilroy watching him. Dipper speed up naturally. He didn't slow down until he was back in his apartment room. He dropped his books on his bed and pulled out his journal for Ford's class. As much Dipper hadn't really wanted to pay attention there had been small things that had interested him. He quickly jotted down notes and labeled the page "Demons." Dipper looked at the page and frowned. He couldn't help himself, he jotted down a quick sketch of Bill with the label "never trust evil manipulative and probably dead."

"DIPPER!" He jumped at the voice of Mabel in his ear. "What are you doing?"

"I was taking down notes for my class with Grunkle Ford." Dipper closed his journal. "What's up with you?"

"I called Grunk Stan and told him we wanted to come over for dinner!" Mabel grinned.

Dipper sighed. "I was planning on skipping dinner and reading."

"Oh come on Stupid." Mabel said, taking on her childish voice. "Don't be such a downer." She made a goofy face by pulling on the edge of her mouth and stretching it out as far as she could.

Dipper laughed. "Alright fine. But just tonight. Tomorrow will be my get ahead day then, okay."

"Okay." Mabel grinned, letting go of her mouth.

"Stupid." Dipper grinned.

She just laughed and flopped onto her bed and spread out her legs. "College isn't so bad."

"We're only in the first week." Dipper shook his head and picked his pencil up and looked at the clock. It was four fifteen. "What time is dinner?"

"Grunkle Stan said that the food would be ready at sixish." Mabel sat up. "How long does it take to drive over to Grunkle Stan and Grunk Ford's house?"

Dipper chewed on the end of his pencil. "It probably takes about twenty minutes to get there. So we could leave at five thirty and we would get there-."

"Let's go now!" Mabel jumped up off her bed. "Come on Dipper! I'll help Grunkle Stan with dinner!"

"Come on Mabel." Dipper sighed. "I've got homework I need to get started on."

"You can take it with you." Mabel rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you can even ask Grunkle Ford for help."

"I don't need help." Dipper shook his head but grabbed his keys. "Okay fine come on."

Dipper and Mabel's parents had bought them a small car to share when they had moved out. It was a small brown car that almost looked like it was ready to fall apart but overall it was a pretty sturdy car. In fact Mabel had crashed it into a tree near the mystery shack, accidentally and it had survived. Luckily she hadn't been in the car, she had just forgotten to put the brake in place. Dipper was glad it was a sturdy car because you never knew what was going to happen in gravity falls.

The drive to the Pine's house was actually more like fifteen minutes in the end. Dipper pulled up in the small drive way and smiled. Six years ago the two Pines had left gravity falls to explore the world. They had found treasure and had seen many adventures. When they came back the next summer they have moved back into the Mystery shack but it was getting roomy. Soos, Soos' grandmother and Soos' girlfriend were living there and then when Mabel and Dipper had come to visit as well it had been difficult to fit everyone… at least comfortably.

So after Dipper and Mabel had gone back to California the old Pine twins had went off exploring again. They had nothing really holding them to Gravity Falls. And then the following summer to their surprise when they returned there was a new house built just for them. A bunch of the town, in thanks for saving them from Bill, had built a new house for the Pines. A simple one story house with a large basement. It was a few miles from the mystery shack and was perfect for the older Pine twins. There was even a couple guest rooms for Dipper and Mabel.

Dipper parked the car and turned off the engine. Mabel jumped out and ran towards the door. "GRUNKLE STAN!"

Dipper just shook his head and then followed her up. Grunkle Stan opened the door. He hadn't changed much in the last five years. He wore a disheveled suit, the bow tie hanging loosely around his neck, and a red fez. "Hey kids." He hugged Mabel and grinned on Dipper. "Come in! And kick your shoes off." He yelled over his shoulder as he walked. "I don't want Ford yelling at me for getting mud on the carpet."

"Is Grunkle Ford home yet?" Mabel asked as she followed him.

"No Poindexter doesn't finish up with all his work until five thirtyish and he doesn't get back home till six."

"Just in time for dinner!" Mabel grinned. "Do you need any help cooking?"

"Sure kid." Stan smiled. "Come on. Dipper you're welcome to help."  
"I've actually got some homework to do." Dipper smiled. "But I'll help set the table when it's time."

"Sounds good." Stan nodded as he and Mabel headed into the kitchen. Dipper himself settled himself into Stan's chair in front of the tv. When the town had furnished the house Soos had made sure that they had modeled it after Stan's old living room. There was a yellow sofa chair and a fish tank behind it with a fish like lizard. An owl clock hung on the wall. Somehow they had even found a fake dinosaur skull to sit by the chair. Of course it was also different a bit. There was a now a long couch sitting in the living room as well. Dipper snuggled into the chair and began to read his textbook for Gilroy's class.

Before long the front door opened. "Hey I'm home." Ford's voice called from the front door. Dipper set his textbook down and headed into the kitchen. Ford walked in a moment later. "Dipper, Mabel." Caesar

"Hey Grunkle Ford." Mabel grinned. She had on a red apron that she had made three summers ago. "How was work?"

"Long." Ford sat down at the table while Dipper started setting the table. "Ms. Ice came by my office and yelled at me again."

"That crazy old girl." Stan huffed. "What was her problem this time?" Stan set a pan of lasagna down. Mabel followed with a basket of french bread.

"You don't get along with the dean either Grunkle Stan?" Dipper asked.

"It's more like she doesn't like either of us." Ford grabbed a piece of french bread and set it on his plate. "In her first year as dean Stanley almost ran her over."

"Not my fault the crazy woman walked in front of the car!" Stan grumbled and grabbed his own piece of bread. "And she doesn't like you either. If I remember right she has an issue because you blew up a lab, twice."

"By accident!" Ford frowned.

Dipper laughed. "You two." +3

"No wonder she doesn't like you two." Mabel laughed at the same time.

"She's just too uptight." Stan served the lasagna and laughed.

"Speaking of uptight." Dipper said after swallowing. "Grunkle Ford do you know a Professor Gilroy?"

"Ah that guy." Ford chuckled. "Yeah I know him. He's been teaching here as long as I have and is a grump a lot of the time." He shook his head. "He's an uptight guy as well."

"Not as uptight as you poindexter?" Ford laughed.

"Oh shut up Stan." Ford was smiling. The two had their fights occasionally but over the past five years the two brothers had grown closer.

"Be nice you two." Mabel laughed.

Dipper just smiled and enjoyed his family's company.

Qkkv gt kek ut Morxue.


	4. Chapter 4

Dipper looked over at Bree as she drove the golf cart. She wasn't talking and was just watching the dirt road. Her face had it's typical neutral slightly angry expression. Dipper looked forward and smiled. His Grunkle Stan was driving one cart and happily ranting about some of his adventures to the seven students in his cart. Ford was driving his own tour golf cart in front of Stan. He was also talking excitedly. A complete difference from Bree who was silently driving.

Each golf cart had seven students in them. There were four sets of seats in each golf cart. Ford had bought them specifically so he could take his classes on mystery hunts. Dipper felt like he should have been saying something, but it just didn't feel right… after all he was technically a student as well. "So… Bree…" He finally said.

"What?" She didn't look at him as the cart turned a corner.

"Do you have any experience with the paranormal?"

She was silent for a long time. "Yeah. It's hard not to when you live in Gravity Falls."

Dipper froze. "So you've lived here for a while?"

"No."

Dipper waited patiently as Bree looked off at the path. Is she not going to say anything else?

"I was born in Gravity Falls." Bree finally said. "But I left when I was seven. We moved to Arizona… I only just moved back."

"But your Grandma started teaching here, did she live here?"

"No. She lived in Washington until the school opened and needed a dean." Bree sighed. "How far does Professor Ford plan on driving."

"It's not much further." Dipper said looking around.

"You know where we're going?" She finally looked over at him and raised her eyebrow.

"I've got a pretty good guess. Grunkle Ford brought me here once before when I first came to Gravity Falls. I'm guessing that he wants to show off his favorite discovery related to the Floating Cliffs."

Bree looked at him and then looked back at the path. After a few minutes they pulled up to a clearing with a hill. Dipper smiled as he recognized it as crash site omega, at least that is what Ford had started to call it. Bree pulled her cart to a stop as Ford and Stan's carts stopped and the students began to climb out.

"Alright everyone gather around!" Ford called out. "I have something to show you." He stopped with his back to the floating cliffs. "Does anyone know what this place is called?"

"The Floating cliffs?" One of the students asked.

"Correct!" Ford grinned. "And now tell me. Does this look like anything?" He moved away so everyone could see the large hole. He waved his hand at it.

Everyone began to whisper. Dipper glanced at Bree. He knew the answer already. "What do you think?"

"Do alien ships really look like flying saucers?" Bree's comment surprised Dipper.

"What?"

"Well I always thought that aliens would look nothing like what we always portrayed them as." She folded her arms over her chest. "I'm a little surprised."

Ford laughed as no one volunteered a guess. He held up his key chain, a flying saucer, and held it in front of the hole. "Some time in the far past aliens crashed here creating the whole of Gravity Fall's valley." He waved his hand. "I've learned this from my research. Even now I'm still learning more and more. "Now here's the question I want you to think about. Did the crash cause the town's strange properties or did the town's strange properties attract the craft?"

Everyone began to whisper to each other.

"Where did it go?!" Someone called out. "Shouldn't there be a big crash?"

"Did it get moved to area 51?" Someone else called out.

Ford grinned. He walked over and pushed a rock away revealing the hidden hatch that lead down into the craft. Everyone gasped in shock.

"Are we going to go down?" Someone asked Ford.

"Not today." Ford looked down. "There are dangerous guards down there and we'll set off the traps in there if we all go. If you want to go on your own you are free to."

"Yeah when he won't get fired for getting someone killed." Bree shook her head.

"Grunkle Ford almost got himself killed once when we went down there." Dipper whispered.

"Really?" Bree looked shocked. "Interesting."

Dipper glanced at Bree as she watched Ford talk. She's always keeping an eye on Grunkle Ford…

"Now then. Today I want you to go in partner groupings and explore the area around here." Ford smiled. "See what you can find."

Everyone began to pair off while Ford and Stan talked. "I guess it's you and me." Dipper looked at Bree.

She sighed. "Fine." She started walking.

Dipper sped up to follow her. "You know there are a lot of crazy things that live in this forest. My sister fought with Unicorns once."

Bree didn't seem impressed.

Dipper sighed. What does it take to make her actually talk. He looked around.

"Dipper…" Bree started to talk and then stopped.

"What?" Dipper asked but Bree didn't answer. "I don't get it, why do you seem to hate my family so much?"

Bree sighed. "Your Great Uncles are annoying. They cause so much trouble. They've nearly killed my grandmother… a couple times."

"Yeah I heard about that." Dipper sighed. "Sorry about them. They are trouble makers."

Bree just shook her head. She stopped. "Did you hear that?"

Dipper stopped as well to listen. He looked around and stopped as he noticed a couple gnomes. "Hey look."  
Bree walked over. "Gnomes?" She asked looking down at the group.

"Grunkle Ford has been trying to figure out what is under their hat's for forever." Dipper whispered. "But they won't take off their hats." Flip it around

Bree suddenly smiled. "Let's see if we can." She sprang into action and reached out to grab the nearest gnome. Dipper was shocked as he watched Bree chase a gnome. She was grinning as she tripped to grab one. "COME HELP ME!" Bree yelled out. "I want to do something Ford couldn't!"

Dipper smiled. He sprang into action and followed after Bree. The two worked together until they captured one together. The gnome struggled. Bree was breathing heavily but she was grinning. Dipper smiled at her. She looked at him and then burst out into laughter. "What?"

"Sorry." She covered her mouth slightly.

"What?"

"You're forehead."

Dipper frowned and reached up to cover his forehead, unfortunately that gave the gnome enough wiggle room to get away.

"Darn it." Bree sighed. "I almost had it." Dipper rubbed his forehead. "What's your problem?" She asked.

"Did you have to laugh?" Dipper frowned.

"Of course." Bree said simply. "It's not every day that you see a muddy gnome sized footprint on someone's forehead." She snickered. "It almost looks like an infant kicked you."

Dipper looked at her and then started to laugh. The two stood there for a few minutes just laughing. Bree was the first to stop, but she was smiling widely. "You're not as bad as I thought." Bree chuckled.

Dipper looked at her confused. "What do you mean?"

"When I first heard that Ford and Stanley had a set of twins that were coming to school here I thought it was going to be bad. I thought you and your sister would be as bad as Ford and Stanley and the school would explode or something."

Dipper smiled. "Mabel and I are nothing like Stan and Ford… Well okay we have some similarities but we're not as destructive."

Bree smiled. "I think I'm learning that now." She held out her hand to him. "Let's start over then. I'm Bree Ice."

"Dipper Pines." Dipper smiled and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." She shook his hand. "Now let's go see if we can find that gnome."

Dipper just laughed.

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Mabel glanced up as Dipper walked into their shared room. "Hey Dipper what's up?" Dipper was smiling widely as he walked into the room.

"Huh?"

"Did you have a good class?" Mabel spun around in her chair, she really loved the wheely chairs.

"Yeah." Dipper smiled. "We went to the crash site and explored the area. Bree and I caught a gnome and found out what was under it's hat. Grunkle Ford was so mad, but also impressed."

"Why was he mad?"

"Because he has been trying to do that for years." Dipper laughed. "Turns out that gnomes have nothing under their hats, they just are really shy about their hair styles. Ford was mad at himself for spending so much time trying to figure it out."

Mabel laughed. "Really?"

"Yeah. So what about you? How are your classes?"

"Great!" Mabel grinned. "I already finished my first assignment!" She held up a zip up jacket made of a purple pink color. On the back was a bedazzled letter M. "I think I'm my teacher's favorite."

Dipper smiled. "It's hard not to love you."

"Thanks Dipper." Mabel smiled. She set the jacket down. "I saw Wendy today also."

"Really?" Dipper looked up.

"Yeah. Turns out she's the TA for my beginners business class." Mabel grinned. "I heard she broke up with her boyfriend a week ago!" Dipper rolled his eyes and Mabel smiled. She really enjoyed teasing him.

"I already told you Mabel I'm over Wendy. I've been over her for ages. She's just my friend."

"Sure." Mabel grinned. He's still in denial! Dipper turned his back to her and began to write in his journal. Mabel watched him. But maybe… Maybe he really is over her… Mabel shrugged and turned around so she was facing her own desk. She pulled out a notecard and started to write. Dear Mom and Dad. College Life is going great. Dipper is having fun in Grunkle Ford's class. I'm enjoying my classes too. One of my professors has already told me I'm her favorite. Missing you and hope you are doing well. I'll try to get Dipper to call you I promise. You were right mom. College is great. Love you and miss you, Mabel.

Mabel stood up. "I'm going to go mail this, want to come?"

"Why don't you just call them?" Dipper asked.

"Because I'm sure mom will love it. Plus she can add it to the rest of my postcard collection from all our summers."

"OKay." Dipper chuckled. He was working on homework.

Mabel shrugged and left the room. She skipped and hummed as she headed off.

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	5. Chapter 5

"I'm bored!" Mabel lightly kicked Dipper's leg. "We should do something!"

Dipper sighed and looked up from his paper. He currently had a stack of papers sitting next to him. Bree sat on the other side of the papers, reading her own. The two were grading the class's first assignment from Ford. Everyone was supposed to write their own theories about the weirdness and why it centralized around Gravity Falls. Then they were supposed to explain why they believed that the weirdness was supposed to be here. Ford was supposed to have read them himself, but he had a meeting with a couple of the other professors so he had asked Dipper and Bree to summarize for him. "Mabel."

"I know!" She jumped up. "We should have a party this weekend! Our first college party!"

"Mabel we don't even have time to plan it." Dipper shook his head but stopped as Mabel glared at him. "What?"

"Like it would take me that long to plan a party."

"We don't even have a spot to have it. And we are not having the party in our apartment." Dipper set down his current paper.

"I could take care of that." Bree set her own paper down.

"Bree." Dipper frowned.

She smiled. "Come on Dipper. A little Chaos is good." Both Dipper and Mabel looked at Bree in confusion. Chaos was not their favorite word. Bree rolled her eyes. "A little controlled chaos is all you need for a party. A party without chaos is boring."

Mabel smiled. "Right!" She grinned. "I like you Bree."

Bree chuckled. "Give me a moment and I'll get us a place… Do we want it tonight?"

"Yeah!" Mabel grinned and pulled out her phone. "I'll get the info out!"

Bree nodded and pulled out her own phone and typed in a few things and then held it up to her ear. She waited a moment and then smiled. "Hey Grandma…. No I'm doing good…. Yeah no problem… Hey listen I was wondering if I could borrow the keys for the gym tonight…. We're throwing a party… Yeah I'll keep an eye on it… No problem… Thanks I'll swing by and grab them. Thanks. Love you." She hung up. "We're good. The gym is ours."

"Great!" Mabel grinned.

"Wait your grandma will just give you the key to the gym?"

"Yeah." Bree smiled. "I'm my Grandma's favorite so she basically will do whatever I ask… Well short of anything illegal." She chuckled. "I tried once as an april fools day joke and she laughed."

"That's awesome!" Mabel was grinned and practically jumping up and down.

"What about decorations?" Dipper sighed.

"Already on it." Bree grinned. "We keep a bunch of stuff in storage. Mabel and I will take care of that."

"Come on Dipper!" Mabel begged. "We're in college now!"

Dipper looked from Bree to Mabel to Bree to Mabel and sighed. "Fine. I'll come if you get it set up."

"Great." Bree set down her pen. "Then you wouldn't mind doing the rest of the summarizing. Thanks." She grabbed Mabel's arm and started to run off.

"He. Ah forget it." Dipper sighed and went back to summarizing.

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"Done." Mabel grinned as she looked over the gym. After an hour it was finally finished. "Not too bad if I say so myself."  
Bree chuckled. "You really are the queen of quick parties."

"You have no ideas. We're just lucky your grandma had so much random supplies we were able to use. There was even a disco ball!" Mabel grinned as she looked over the gym again. Bree had led Mabel to a closet full of junk and Mabel had pulled out everything that they could use. There was a couple mirrors that would catch the disco ball lights and there was plenty of colorful streamers. Mabel had cut up some old posters, with Bree's permission, to use as wall decorations.

"How long till the party?" Bree asked.

Mabel checked her phone. "We've got an hour and a half."

"Good I still have time to go get ready." Bree pocketed the keys. "I'll see you at the party then."

"Yeah. And feel free to invite all your friends." Bree just turned and walked away. Mabel turned and looked over the decorations and then walked in front of a mirror. "Not bad." She looked at herself. "This is college party ready." Mabel wore an embroidered pink frilly tank top blouse and a cute pair of jean shorts that she had bedazzled.

"Yeah not bad."

Mabel glanced around her but no one was there. "Who said that?" She looked around but turned back to the mirror as she heard a whistle. Standing in the mirror was a mirror image of Mabel, only this one was smirking and waving her hands.

"Hi there." The image said.

"You…" The mirror's surface seemed to ripple and then hands reached out and then Mabel was pulled into the mirror. She crashed and groaned. Standing over her was the mirror image.

"Thanks Mab." Mirror Mabel smirked. "I've been bored in here for ages!" She spun. "And now I'm free."

"Who are you?" Mabel stood up and realized that the mirror Mabel was standing on the other side of the glass.

"I'm the mirror shadow of you. But from this point on I'm Mabel Pines. Freshman student at Gravity Falls College… And maybe some day I'll come back to tell you how wonderful your life has gone." The mirror shadow waved a hand and then walked off.

"NO!" Mabel yelled and banged on the glass surface, but it wouldn't break. "Dipper.. Please help."

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Dipper tugged on his hat and looked in the mirror. Then he took it off. But that just didn't feel right. He sighed and put the hat back on. "I look fine."

"Hey Dip!" He spun to see Mabel watching him. "Lose the hat."

"Mabel?"

"Come on! It's a party!" Mabel grinned and walked over to him. She took the hat off and tossed it onto the bed and ruffled his hair. "Loosen up brother." She spun. "Now come on or we'll be late!" She turned and ran out the door.

Dipper sighed but turned and followed her, locking the door behind him. It didn't take long to reach the gym and it was already full of people. He noticed Pacifica talking with a group of boys. She looked over and waved at him. Dipper smiled and waved back. "Hey Mab-." He stopped as he spotted her running over to the dance floor. She grabbed a guy and the two started dancing. "That's weird." He whispered. But he shrugged and headed over to talk to a couple people he knew.

Dipper didn't see Mabel again for an hour, and when she did it was just for a second while she grabbed a drink of punch and then ran back out to the dance floor.

"What's up with Mabel?" Dipper turned to see Wendy.

"What do you mean?" Dipper glanced back out at Mabel, who was dancing in the middle of the floor. She seemed to be trying to be the spotlight of the party. That did seem a little odd.

"I just passed Grenda and Candy and both of them hadn't even talked to Mabel once." Wendy frowned. "Plus when has Mabel danced with a bunch of different boys without even getting their names?"

"What do you mean?" Dipper frowned.

"She danced with Jake and didn't even ask his name." She looked over at a tall boy with brown hair. "Not to mention that fact that she didn't even let him say no. She was… aggressive."

"And Jake is?"

"My new boyfriend." Wendy said. "Which I told Mabel when we talked earlier… It's strange that she choose to dance with him as well."

"That does sounds odd." Dipper watched his sister. Something about her was off, he just couldn't figure it out. "I'll talk to her."

"Thanks Dipper." Wendy smiled and walked back over to her boyfriend.

Dipper shrugged and headed over to Mabel. "Hey Mabel!" He called over. "Mabel."

"What?" She didn't stop dancing as she spoke. "Dipper I'm dancing right now! We can talk after the party!" She smiled. "I'm dancing with Theo."

"Thomas!" The man across from her called.

"Yeah that." Mabel laughed.

Mabel frowned and walked off the dance floor. He spotted Bree standing at the punch table by herself. She wore a light blue frilly blouse covered by a navy blue jean jacket. She was fiddling with the golden chain around her neck. "Hey Bree!" he walked over to her. "Was Mabel acting weird while you were decorating?"

"No." Bree took a drink of the punch. "She was acting normal.. Well as far as I'm aware. Is she normally that… happy?"

"Yeah." Dipper glanced out at the dance floor. "But Mabel's been acting weird since she got back."

Bree looked out at the dance floor. "She seems-." She stopped. "It's not normal for Mabel to ignore people is it?"

Dipper glanced over where Mabel was ignoring Pacifica. "No… Something is wrong with Mabel." He frowned. "Come on." He grabbed Bree's arm and dragged her out of the gym.

"Where are we going?" Bree asked following.

"To get back up." Dipper stopped and pulled out his phone. He typed in a number and waited. It rang a few times and then Ford picked up.

"Dipper?"

"Ford?!" Bree hissed covering the microphone. "Why Ford?"

"We need his help." Dipper frowned.

"Blowing up the gym?" Bree frowned. "We don't need him!" She glared at the phone.

Dipper frowned. "He's the only one who might know what is going on. I sure don't do you?" Bree frowned at him but pulled her hand away from the phone. "Grunkle Ford Mabel is acting weird. How long till you can reach the gym?"

"I'll be there in a few." Ford sounded intrigued.

"Thanks." Dipper hung up and looked at Bree. "What is your problem with Grunkle Ford? I know he's a little destructive sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Bree rolled her eyes. "You have no idea how many times my grandma has called and complained to me about Ford. Half the time she calls me it starts with 'Ford this' or 'Ford that.' Once she told me Ford blew up a classroom."

Dipper sighed. "We need his help though."

Bree sighed. "Fine. But if he destroys anything then you take the blame." She looked away. "Stupid Pines…"

Dipper rolled his eyes but the two waited until Ford came walking up. "Dipper what is going on?"

"Mabel has been acting odd since she finished setting up for the party. She's ignoring her friends and can't remember people's names."

"Well maybe she's just a little overwhelmed." Ford frowned.

"She's taking over the spotlight." Dipper frowned.

Ford froze. "Are you sure?... How long has Mabel been acting like this?" He glanced towards the gym.

"Since we finished setting up." Bree said. "But listen Ford… If we let you help there is no destroying, blowing up, or breaking things." Bree folded her arms over her chest. "Agree?"

"I see you have been talking to your grandmother again." Ford chuckled.

"Just agree." Bree frowned.

"Very well." Ford chuckled. "Now let's go." He opened the door and the three of them walked in. Ford glanced around and frowned. "Bree… where did you get those mirrors?"

"Huh?" Bree glanced over at the mirrors set up around the room. "They were shoved in a closet. I think a science teacher used them once for a light experiment."

"I wonder…" Ford frowned.

"What is it?" Dipper asked.

"Bree, Dipper see if you can examine those mirrors. See if there is any strange symbols on the frames."

Dipper and Bree nodded and hurried towards the closest mirror. He glanced towards Mabel, who didn't even seem to realize Ford had shown up, and then back at the mirror. It looked normal to him and nothing seemed odd. He turned and headed towards the next one. He eyed it over and then froze. He could have sworn he just heard Mabel's voice. He looked over his shoulder. Mabel as still dancing.

"Dipper!"

He turned and found Mabel standing in the mirror. She was banging on the glass. "Mabel?!"

"Dipper you have to help me!" Her voice sounded muffled.

"What happened to you… Hang on!" Dipper turned and ran over to find Ford and Bree. "I found the mirror!" Dipper said. Flip it around

"Right then." Ford said. "Which one?" Dipper pointed. "Okay. Now then we need to get the mirror as far from Mabel as possible." He glanced at Bree. "We will probably have to destroy it."

She frowned. "And why is that?"

"The spell on the mirror causes those who look into it to act darker. As long as the mirror is near that person they will-."

"Um Grunkle Ford." Dipper interrupted. "I don't think that is the problem."

"What?" Ford asked.

"Mabel is trapped in the mirror." Dipper said and then looked back at the fake Mabel.

"Mirror shadow!" Ford grinned. "Never thought I would see one of those again!" He smirked. "New plan. We need to get Mabel, the fake Mabel to stand close enough to the mirror for us to push her in."

"No breaking?" Bree folded her arms.

"As long as we keep the mirror covered I guess we don't have to break it." Ford shrugged. "Actually I would like to examine the mirror myself so I would prefer we not break it."

"Good." Bree smiled. "Then I'm on board." She looked at the fake Mabel. "You two get ready to push her, I'll get her over there. Bree turned and headed out onto the dance floor.

"That Bree." Ford sighed. "She's sure a stick in the mud." He lightly pushed on Dipper's shoulder and smiled.

"Is it true you blew up a classroom?" Dipper looked at Ford and raised his eyebrow.

Ford chuckled. "Oh yes I remember that time. We had an accident with a bunsen burner and an annoying little trickster fairy."

Dipper sighed. "I can see why Bree and her grandma don't like you."

Ford shrugged. The two of them threaded their way to stand behind the mirror. They watched as the fake Mabel followed Bree over to a cut out on the wall near the mirror. Dipper could hear them talking.

"Mabel I showed my grandma the cut outs you made and she really liked them. She wanted to know if you would help out with some decorations for the school's next event. We're on a budget and we could use your creativity."

"Sounds great." The fake Mabel smirked. "But I would prefer if I could get paid some for it. My time is pretty busy."

"Yeah no problem." Bree smiled. She started walking again, but this time she was walking towards the mirror. "Come take a look at some of these supplies and tell me Now!" Bree yelled this as the fake Mabel walked in front of the mirror.

Dipper and Ford shot forwards and grabbed the fake Mabel's arms. She started to struggle but the two of them were stronger than her. "Ready Dipper?" Ford asked. Dipper just nodded and the two of them tossed the fake Mabel into the mirror. A moment later Mabel came stumbling out.

"Mabel?" Dipper asked cautiously.

"DIPPER!" Mabel flung her arms around his neck. "Thank you!" She let go and hugged Ford. "Thank you Grunkle Ford!"

"Let's cover this up." Bree said walking over and throwing her jacket over the mirror. "Let's not have any mirror shadows walking around."

Ford chuckled. "I'll come pick the mirror up later and take it to my lab to examine."

"Maybe you should get it now." Dipper looked at it. "I'll help you."

"Thank you Dipper." Ford nodded. "And thank you Bree." He smiled. "I promise I'll try not to break this one."

Bree shrugged. "Yeah Yeah." She turned and started to walk off. "Just don't let that mirror shadow out either."

"No problem." Dipper called after her.

"I think I'm growing on her." Ford laughed.

Dipper just shook his head and helped lift the mirror. He watched as Mabel ran over to Candy and Gretel. It's good to have her back.

Dsl wl blf hsrk


	6. Chapter 6

Dipper glanced down at Ford. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course!" Ford was currently hanging from the Gravity Falls water tower. Dipper was spotting him, and keeping an eye on the rope to make sure it didn't snap. Ford was currently chipping off samples of the strange cocoon growing on the side of the water tower.

"Can you tell what it is?!" Dipper asked.

"Not yet." Ford continued to chip the sample into a jar. Dipper sighed and rested against the railing. He looked out over the town and smiled. It really had become home to him over the past many summers and now he was living here year round. "Dipper!" Ford called.

"Yeah?" Dipper looked down.

"Mind pulling me up?" Ford smiled up at Dipper.

"Got it!" Dipper reached over and clicked a button causing the rope to start moving up. The gears of the machine whirled. Dipper looked down as Ford started to move up. Something flew past Dipper and he jerked to attention. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Ford called up. He was still moving up the tower. "Dipper?"

Dipper looked around. "I think there is something-." Dipper jumped as something large flew past him- right at Ford. "GRUNKLE FORD!" Dipper watched as a large bat flew straight at Ford.

"Not today." Ford pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket and shot the bat. It shrieked as a bolt of blue lightening hit the bat's wing. It spiraled down and then soared off back towards the forest.

"Grunkle Ford?" Dipper watched as Ford quickly scrambled over the railing. He was breathing heavily. "I'm getting too old for this… don't tell Stan." He sighed.

"Wasn't that a giant bat?" Dipper asked as Ford slid the gun and sample into his duffle bag. "Why would it attack us?"

"Not sure." Ford finally looked off after the bat. "We'll have to go check the cave tomorrow." Ford frowned. "Remind me to pick some fruit up before we go."

Dipper nodded but he had a bad feeling as they climbed down the tower ladder.

⁂※⁂※⁂※⁂※⁂※⁂※

Mabel smiled as she waved goodbye to Tyler, her date. "Have a good evening!" She laughed and then spun around and started to walk towards her apartment. Tyler and her had gone skittle bowling and then gotten some dinner from the on campus cafe. It had been a good date and Mabel was glad she had agreed to go. She skipped as she headed home.

Mabel paused. She was sure she had heard a noise but she wasn't sure where it had come from. "Hello?" She asked looking around. She was half way across campus in a large open courtyard.

And then something grabbed her shoulders and she was whisked up into the air. She gasped out in shock and pain.

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Bree drummed her fingers over the table in front of her and frowned. "Darn it." She groaned and leaned back. "Why is this math problem so difficult?!" She rubbed her face and sighed. Why am I doing this again? Her hand strayed to the chain around her neck. "It will all be worth it." She whispered.

"Hey Bree." Dipper said walking up. "Have you seen Mabel?"

Bree frowned. "Why would I have seen your sister before you today?" She folded her arms over her chest. "She's your roommate right?"

"Yeah." Dipper sighed. "She wasn't home when I got home and went to bed last night.. And she wasn't in the room when I woke up."

That's odd. Bree frowned. "Did you try calling her?"

"I did but she didn't answer." Dipper sighed. "I'm starting to worry."

"Didn't she have a date last night?" Bree stood up and gathered up her math homework. "Do you know the guy she was going out with?"

"Some guy from her class… Jason I think… No that was last week… This week was Jake." Dipper frowned. "I think."

Bree rolled her eyes. "How can you not- never mind." She shoved the papers into her bag. "Come on. I think she told me she was going bowling." Bree started walking. Dipper hurried after her.

"Where are you going Bree?"

"I'm going to find Mabel." She walked into the security office. "Hey Bruce!" She called out. "You here?"

"Bree?" A big man with dark hair came walking out. "What can I do for you?"

"I need to look at the security cameras." Bree said.

The big man was silent for a moment and then nodded. "Come on it…" He glared towards Dipper. "Who's the kid?"

"He's with me."

"Alright. Come on in." The big man led them into a room. There were tons of computers. "You need anything else?" He asked.

"No I'm fine." Bree sat down at the computer desks. "Dipper what time was Mabel's date?"

"Seven thirty... And I got home at nine thirty." Dipper looked at the cameras.

"Right…. Let's see." Bree frowned. "A game of bowling usually lasts about an hour… Give or take a little… She probably would have gotten home around nine thirty if you factor in dinner time as well." Bree frowned and her fingers moved up to fiddle with the necklace chain around her neck. "Let's try nine twenty." Bree fast forward through the security cameras.

"So um… Why did he let you?"

"Because my grandma is the dean… She's basically told him to allow me to check on stuff if I ask… Mostly I use it to try and prove if Ford is responsible for destroying something." Bree frowned as she continued to fast forward. "So far I've proved that he blew up a classroom a month ago."

Dipper sighed. "You really have it out for Grunkle Ford."

Bree just shrugged and then froze. "Hang on." She scrolled back a little. "Look at this." She paused on an image of Mabel walking across campus. "Look here."

"It's Mabel."

"Right. Now watch closely." Bree slowly fast forward until an image of a large bat flew down and grabbed Mabel. "There's what happened."

Dipper frowned. "A giant bat…" A-1

"Looks like it." Bree leaned back in her chair. "Seems a little strange… Probably should call Ford."

"Now you're fine calling him?" Dipper raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah." Bree stood up and smiled. "Bat's don't live on campus so if he destroys anything it won't be my grandma's problem." That and I'm sure Mabel isn't the only person to have been kidnapped.

"I'll call him… Want to come?" Dipper smiled and held out a hand to her. "We could use some help."

Bree looked at him and then shook her head. "Sorry I've got lots of homework I need to get done. Good luck."

"Thanks for the help anyways." Dipper nodded and then hurried out the door. Bree watched him.

"That Dipper isn't as bad as I expected." She sighed. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised.. Not every family member is the same as another…. He's not Ford… She tugged at the chain and sighed. "Thanks Bruce." She yelled and then walked out.

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Dipper looked over at Ford and Stan as they headed towards a large cave. "Is this the right spot?"

"Yeah." It was Ford who answered. "But this is strange… The bats have never kidnapped people before. I mean they don't even eat meat." He hefted the bag of fruit on his shoulder.

"Could they be a new set of bats?" Stan asked. "New to town?"

"I guess that is possible." Ford said as he took the lead. "But it still doesn't seem likely."

"I just want to find Mabel." Dipper looked around the cave as he walked. "Who knows what is happening to her." He held up the electric bolt gun Ford had given him. "And any bat that hurts my sister…"

"Don't worry kid." Stan shoved Dipper slightly. "I doubt Mabel really needs help. That girl is tough." He smirked. "Don't forget she's the one who dealt with those flying monkey's last summer."

"Not to mention the time that she sealed that golem two summers ago." Ford said. "Both times by herself."

Dipper smiled. "Mabel is a tough one."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she decided she wanted to adopt the little creature." Stan said.

"Little?" Ford and Dipper asked together. Stan just laughed. But they all went silent as they heard a scuttling noise. Ford waved his hand and the three of them leaned up against a wall. They peaked around a corner to see a large group of bats hanging upside down and sleeping. Mabel was curled up in the middle of the cave next to some rocks. The largest bat slept next to her.

"Mabel!" Dipper whispered and waved his hand.

She looked up and smiled. "Dipper!" She waved her own hand but flinched as the bat near her shifted slightly.

"What do we do Grunkle Ford?" Dipper looked at him and held up the gun. "Shot?"

"Wait a minute." Ford looked around. "Those are giant fruit bats…. And Mabel doesn't look like she was hurt." He frowned.

"You're right about that." Stan said. "Now leave this to me. You be ready to back me up." Stan started walking out into the cave towards Mabel.

"Stanley!" Ford hissed but his twin ignored him.

"Hang on kid I'm coming." Stan said as he started walking. "Don't worry."

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel whispered. Stan inched closer and held out his hand to her. "Come on!" Mabel nodded and took his hand. Stan pulled and she went flying into his arms. Stan spun and set her down behind him. Z-26

"That idiot." Ford chuckled. "He's going to get himself killed one of these days."

Dipper smiled and watched as Mabel started running towards them. But before he could really celebrate the large bat roared up and shriked. It waved its wing, hitting Stan and sending him flying.

"Stan!" Ford held up the gun and aimed but the bat's shriek had caused the other bats to wake up. "MABEL GET DOWN!" Ford yelled.

Dipper pulled out his own gun and aimed at a bat. A lightning bolt nailed the bat straight in the chest. It shrieked out in pain but Dipper moved onto the next. Again and again Dipper and Ford attacked the bats. One by one. Until all that was left was the largest bat, the leader bat. It had Stan pinned under one tallon and Mabel under another.

Dipper and Ford hid behind a set of rocks. "What do we do now?" Dipper whispered.

"Dipper tell me something… Have you noticed anything odd about that bat?"

"What?" Dipper frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I've noticed a few things…. For one that's the bat that attacked us last night. It has a scar on it's wing. For another it seems to be wearing some kind of collar."

"Really?" Dipper poked his head out. Indeed there seemed to be a collar around the bat's neck… one made of bones and rope. "What is it?"

"No idea…" Ford whispered. "But whatever it is… That seems abnormal."

"Right." Dipper frowned. "I have an idea… I need to get behind the bat. Can you distract that bat?"  
"Leave it to me." Ford nodded and started running out in front of the bat.

Dipper took the other direction. He circled around behind the bat. He glanced around. Please Mabel.. Please tell me you… There! He spotted the one odd item that Mabel had carried with her everywhere. It had been upgraded a few times but it was a sure thing that she had it with her always. One grappling gun. Dipper rushed towards it and snatched it up. He aimed it at the roof above the bat and shot.

Once it was fully in tact he started to pull himself up. He let himself hang for a moment and then swung. Pulling the grappling hook out with him he shot down and wrapped his arms around the bat, well as much as he could. He hung onto the bone collar. The bat shrieked and tried to shake him off. Dipper just hung on tighter.

After shaking for a few Dipper went flying, breaking the bone collar. Dipper hit a wall and felt dizzy. He rubbed his head and groaned. He looked up and was shocked to see the bat had stopped shaking about. It flapped it's wings and flew up to a bolder and whimpered. It just left Mabel and Stan laying there.

"Stan!" Ford rushed towards him brother.

"Mabel!" Dipper got up and ran over to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "Grappling gun."

Dipper just sighed. "Oh Mabel." He handed the gun over to her and then looked over at Ford and then the bat. "Why isn't it coming after us?"

"Because of that." Ford pointed to the bone collar still in Dipper's hand. "I'm not sure what that is but I'm sure that is a factor." Ford looked over at the bat. "Something tells me we aren't going to have any more problems."

Dipper frowned and looked at Mabel. "But…"

"Let's go kids." Ford frowned and patted Dipper's shoulder. "Enough…" He started to walk out of the cave. "I think we've done enough here."

Dipper looked back at the cave. The bat was whimpering and licking its injuries. Dipper sighed but hurried after Ford. "What do we do with this?" Dipper held up the collar.

"I'll study it." Ford held out his hand to Dipper. The younger man nodded and handed over the collar.

Ӝ Ӝ Ӝ Ӝ Ӝ Ӝ

Ford set the collar on his desk and pulled out his microscope. He set the collar under the microscope and started to look. Strange unfamiliar symbols were carved into the bones. Ford pulled out a notebook and began to sketch the symbols. He would have to go look up what those symbols meant. He set aside the notebook and looked over at the picture on his desk. It was from his first full summer in Gravity Falls after he escaped from the other dimensions. It was him, Stan, Dipper and Mabel. His happy place. He picked up the picture.

"Let's hope this isn't a bad sign." He whispered to the picture.

20-8-5 2-1-20-19 23-5-18-5 3-15-14-20-18-15-12-12-5-4


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Mabel leaned up against her bedpost and scribbled a design into her sketch book. She tapped the pencil against her cheek and frowned. "Nope." She flipped the pencil and erased the last part of the design she had drawn, a cape like pattern in a dress. "As much as I thought it would look good I don't like it." She drummed her pencil against the table and then she started to sketch her new idea. She liked this one much more. "There we-." She was interrupted by her phone ringing. "Hello?"

"Mabel I need your help."

"Gideon?" Mabel set the pencil down. "What's wrong?"

"I need your help… You and Dipper."

"Alright. We'll be there soon." Mabel hung up the phone. "DIPPER!" She jumped up and ran out in search of her twin. She found Dipper sitting under a tree reading his text book. "Dipper!"

"What is it?"

"We need to go to the high school!" Mabel grabbed Dipper's arm. "Come on!"

"Why?"

"Come on!" Mabel pulled him up. "We need to go!"

"And how are we supposed to get there?" Dipper sighed. "The car is still in the shop." Dipper picked up his bag. "How do you suggest we get there?"

"I've got an idea!" Mabel grinned. "Come on!" She started running. Dipper just sighed as he followed her.

Almost an hour later they were pulling up into the parking lot. Bree was driving. "What time do you need me to come pick you up?" Bree asked.

"Why don't you just come with us?" Mabel smiled. "We don't know how long it's going to be."

Bree sighed. "Fine." She turned the car off. "Why are we here anyways? You didn't say anything." She climbed out of the car, following Mabel and Dipper.

"Come on!" Mabel led the way. Gideon had texted her where to meet. A tree behind the school. Leaning up against the tree was a familiar figure. Gideon had lost a lot of his baby fat over the years. He had also grown, a lot. He was a tall teenager with white hair turned into a slight swirl. He wore a blue shirt and grey plants. He looked over and waved. "Mabel! Dipper!"

After many years Gideon had really grown up. He had given up on Mabel finally and had become a normal teenager… well mostly. He still had a few thugs who loved him enough to beat up bullies. Gideon walked towards them. "Who's your friend Mabel?"

"This is Bree." Mabel smiled. "She's a new friend of ours. So what did you need help with?"

"I'm being haunted." Gideon said.

"What?" Dipper asked. "What do you mean?"

"It's been happening all week." Giddon sighed. "It just started with objects around me moving suddenly… and then…" He shook his head. "I saw something following me… I have no idea. There was nothing like this in my jou- Ford's second journal." Gideon sighed. "What do I do?"

"A ghost?" Bree asked and looked at Dipper. "Do those really exist?"

"You're surprised by the existence of ghosts?" Mabel asked.

"A little." Bree smiled. "But I guess I shouldn't be."

"So what do we do?" Gideon asked looking at Dipper. "Dipper it's driving me crazy… I haven't been able to sleep all week."

"Okay." Dipper folded his arms over his chest. "I guess first off we need to figure out what level this ghost is…. Okay let's go."

"What about school?" Mabel asked looking back at the school grounds.

"One day is not going to kill him." Bree sighed. "Well unless the ghost does."

"That's not funny." Gideon frowned. "I don't like you."

"I'm not asking you to." Bree chuckled. "I'm just the chauffeur." She waved her keys. "Now are we going or not?"

"Yeah."

⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽

Dipper looked over as Mabel and Gideon talked. He was still surprised that Gideon and Mabel had become such good friends. Of course Mabel would never date Gideon, at least not again. "Any ideas?" Bree walked over to him.

"Well I guess first off we need to figure out if Gideon really is being haunted." Dipper sighed. "And once we figure out if he is then we need to figure out what level the ghost is."

"Level?" Bree leaned up against the car next to Dipper. "There are levels?"

Dipper chuckled. "Yeah. There are ten levels. Ten is the worst and one is the weakest." He sighed as he rested against the car. "I've dealt with level one,... four… and seven." Dipper smiled. "Oh and my first experience with Ghosts was a level eleven. Those are special ghosts. They really deserve their own category of creatures."

Bree chuckled. "Sounds interesting."

"I don't think this one is too bad. We would have seen something by now I would expect."

Bree was silent for a little and then frowned. "Dipper… Did you see that?" She pointed to the shadows of a tree. "Let's start over there."

"Dipper?" Mabel called over her shoulder. "Did you see something?"

"Yeah." Dipper said. "Bree thinks she saw something."

"Stay here with Gideon!" Dipper said as he and Bree headed towards the shadows. But nothing was there. He glanced at Bree. She was looking around and frowning. "Bree?"

"I know I saw something here!" She glanced around. "I know it… I saw something…" She grumbled and closed her eyes.

Dipper turned away from her and looked around. Maybe… He turned and glanced over at Gideon. The teenager looked jumpy and nervous… very different from how he had ever acted. It worried Dipper.

"Dipper." Bree said suddenly. Her eyes were still closed. "I don't think it's a ghost." She frowned.

"What?"

"I just thought of something." Bree opened her eyes and crouched down by the tree. Her hand snacked out quickly and at the same time something else tried to dash away. Bree won out and pulled up a little pixie. The pixie's wings were a green with a darker ivy design in them. She had brown hair and was glaring straight at Bree.

"Let me go!" The pixie complained.

"Is that what has been haunting me?" Gideon asked walking over and looking down at the little creature. "Really?"

"Looks like it." Dipper looked at the pixie. "These guys are known for being tricksters and causing problems and chaos."

"Bad chaos." Bree shook her head. "I remember Ford mentioning them in class the other day. Wasn't there one that once glued all his furniture to the roof?"

"I remember that!" Mabel laughed. "Grunkle Ford was cursing all day."

"I didn't do anything bad!" The pixie smiled up at Dipper. "Please let me go. I don't know why this girl decided to grab me. I don't even know how she found me!"

"You make more noise than you think." Bree grumbled.

The Pixie glared at Bree. "Fine then." The Pixie grinned and clapped its hands. Dipper suddenly felt very… tired…

Dipper woke and found that the world around him had taken on darker duller tone. It wasn't just the sky… it was the world around him. "Where-."

"Hey."

Dipper spun and found Bree walking towards him. She had a yellow glow around her. "Bree?"

"I see you're awake." She looked behind him. Dipper turned and found Mabel and Gideon laying on the ground. Next to them was… him! Bree lay there as well.

"What?!"  
"We're-."

"Ugh…" Suddenly another Mabel appeared, standing and clutching her head. She had a pink glow around her. Before Dipper could say anything Gideon appeared, he was glowing with a light blue color.

"What's going on?" Gideon looked around.

"I was-." +3

"Are we dead?!" Mable interrupted Bree. "What happened?!"

Bree sighed. "Mabel!" The other girl jumped. Bree rubbed her head. "We're in the mindscape."

Dipper frowned. "Mindscape? But I thought everyone has an individual mindscape?"

"They do." Bree said and walked over to Gideon's body, the one that wasn't glowing. She reached down and touched the boy's head, and disappeared.

"What is she doing?!" Gideon gasped.

Bree's hand reached out of Gideon's head and she appeared again. She shook her head. "You have weird friends."

"What are you talking about?" Gideon frowned.

"Ghost eyes?" She raised an eyebrow.

"How did you?"  
"I look into your mind." Bree glanced at Dipper. "You knew a little about the mindscape?"

"Yes." Dipper nodded. "I've been in my Grunkle Stan's mindscape before."

Bree nodded. "There is one large mindscape of the world that connects to everyone else's mind. Normally if you go into the mindscape you are focused on one specific mind and that is the one you go to, but if you don't have a specific target then you show up here." She looked around. "This is the general mindscape."

"And how do you know all this?" Gideon asked.

"I… I've been here before." Bree started walking. She stopped in front of her own body and looked down. "Darn in that little trickster got away!"

"How can you tell?" Dipper walked up next to her.

"THe trickster sent us here, probably thinking we wouldn't be able to get out and when we passed out it was able to fly away." She shook her head. "Annoying little pixie. Those guys are real annoying."

"How do we leave?" Mabel grabbed Bree's arm. "Do you know?"

"It's easy." Bree smiled. "Go into your own mind." Bree reached down and touched her body. She disappeared in an instant and then to Dipper's surprise the body stood up. Bree wasn't glowing though, she still had the dullness to her. Bree started to walk away and then turned back to look at Dipper, Mabel and Gideon's bodies. She folded her arms over her chest and frowned. She seemed to say something but Dipper couldn't hear what she had said.

"Dipper?" Mabel looked at him.

"I guess we try." Dipper reached down and touched his own body. It felt like there was a jolt of electricity running through his body and then his eyes jolted open and he was breathing heavily. The world looked normal again.

"There you go." Bree smiled. "The first time is always the worst."

Mabel and Gideon sat up.

"That was…." Mabel whispered.

"Wierd?"

Mabel nodded. "It was nothing like the time we went into Grunkle Stan's mind."

"He probably woke up, right?" Bree chuckled. "That's the easiest way to leave the mindscape." She started to walk away. "If you guys still want a ride back!" She waved her hand.

"Wait!" Gideon frowned. "What about the pixie?!"cesar

"If it shows up again call us." Dipper said starting to walk. "But you probably just need to catch her if she shows up again."

"I guess." Gideon grumbled.

"Bye Gideon!" Mabel yelled as she ran after Bree, and then past towards the car.

"Hey!" Dipper ran up next to Bree. "How did you know all that about the mindscape? I don't think even Grunkle Ford knows about that!"

Bree was silent for a little. "I… I've been there a few times." She said softly.

"How?" Dipper asked.

Bree stopped and sighed. She looked right at Dipper. "Can't you just…" Dipper wasn't sure why but she looked away. "I… I'm weird." She whispered.

"So am I." Dipper rubbed his arm. "You can tell me."

"You're not weird." Bree frowned and looked at him. "You're normal-." She stopped as Dipper lifted up his bangs. She stared at his forehead where he knew was his birthmark of the big dipper. "Wow…"

"See." Dipper let his bangs fall. "And you've seen Grunkle Ford's sixth finger right?"

Bree sighed. "Okay…" She looked at her feet. "Ever since I was born I've been able to enter and leave the mindscape easily."

"Really?" Dipper asked. That's amazing! "Isn't that a great thing?"

"Not really." Bree looked away. "When I was a kid I didn't know any better… I would go into other people's mindscapes… and that would get me into trouble. I knew things about people that I shouldn't have known. Because of that people have always thought I was weird… I only had one friend when I was a kid and it was because he didn't care. I'm still not completely able to control it. Sometimes I just accidently end up there while I daydreaming… And then I see things that I shouldn't. I once saw my teacher kissing my principal and when I asked her about it she got mad at me." Bree sighed. "I was treated like a spy that no one liked."

"I'm sorry." Dipper touched her shoulder. "I know what you mean. I finally accepted it but I hated my nickname of Dipper when I was young. Truthfully I still have a bit of issues with it, but mostly now when people add little or big to the front of my nickname." Dipper smiled. "Just as long as you promise not to go digging into my personal mindscape I think we can still be friends."

Bree looked at him, she looked a little shocked but then she smiled. "Thanks Dipper." She turned away from him. "Come on Mabel is waiting for us. Oh and remind me later and I can show you how to protect your personal mindscape." She stopped and looked off in the distance. "Looks like that little trickster is bugging some new kid."

"How?" Dipper asked.

"I don't have to close my eyes to see the mindscape. In the mindscape buildings don't really exist. So I'm able to see off in the distance a little." She smiled. "We should talk to Ford about a way to get rid of that little pixie."

Dipper nodded. "We can come back later and take care of it."

"Sounds fun." Bree nodded and then pulled out her keys. "Let's head back to campus."

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	8. Chapter 8

"I can't believe you've never been to the mystery shack!" Mabel was saying as the group walked into the old shack. Bree looked around uninterested.

"I've never seen the need. This is all fake stuff…. Except maybe that." She pointed to the statue of Stan. "I don't really care about this place."

Mabel laughed. "Oh come on!" She rushed over to one of the displays. "This place is amazing! I love it here!"

"This is where we first came when we came to Gravity Falls." Dipper looked over at a display of hats just like his. He smiled. "It's been a long time since we first came here."

"I still don't see the appeal."

"Welcome!"

Bree jumped as the man behind her spoke up. She went stumbling and clutched at her chest. The man started fussing over her.

"I'm sorry! Are you alright?!"

"Jezz I knew coming to a place Stanley Pines built was a bad idea." She grumbled.

"You know Stan?" Soos asked. Dipper smiled at the old handy man who now ran the mystery shack.

"Yeah I know him." Bree frowned. "He nearly ran over my grandma."

"Oh." Soos froze.

"Hey Soos how are you?" Dipper interrupted. "Are you and Melody doing well?"

"Yes." Soos smiled. "Melody is feeling sick a little but that can't be helped." Soos laughed. "I'm mostly having to keep little Ally away from her when she's really sick."

"Where is Ally?" Mabel asked, sitting on the Mystery Shack front desk.

"Abuelita took her to the park." Soos pulled out his wallet which was full of pictures of Melody and Ally. The little light brown haired girl was squeezing a mouse stuffed animal in most of the picture.

"How old is she now?" Dipper asked as Soos put away the wallet.

"She'll turn three next month." Soos smiled. "She's getting so big."

"She's such a little cutie!" Mabel grinned. "Does she like the dress I made her?"

"She's wearing it today." Soos nodded. "Oh yeah Mabel." Soos reached behind the desk. "I got a letter for you yesterday."

"Here?" Dipper asked as Soos pulled out a bottle. "That's the letter?"

Soos nodded and passed the bottle over to Mabel. "It's from Mermando!" Mabel pulled out the letter and began to read it over.

"Whose Mermando?" Bree asked.

"One of Mabel's many crushes from when we were twelve. He's a merman technically." Dipper whispered. "Mabel had a problem with crushing on creatures." Dipper chuckled. "She dated a bunch of gnomes our first week."

"A merman… Wait gnomes?" Bree was shaking her head. "And I thought I was weird."

Dipper chuckled. "You have no idea."

"We have to go!" Mabel jumped up. The color from her face had palled.

"What's wrong?"

"We've got to go see Grunkle Ford!" Mabel rushed out the door. Dipper looked at Bree and she shrugged. The two nodded and then hurried out. A short drive later they arrived at Stan and Ford's place. Dipper pulled up his car and parked it. Stan was lounging in a chair on the front lawn, wearing his typical loose cotton white tank top and boxers. Bree grumbled something under her breath in the backseat.

"Hey kids." Stan said as they climbed out of the car. "What's up?"

"Where's Grunkle Ford?" Mabel asked.

"Down in his lab." Stan looked over at Bree. "What's she doing here?" He didn't look happy to see her.

"Nice to see you too." Bree folded her arms over her chest. "Run anyone over recently?"

"Throw anything at people?" Stan frowned.

"Not recently… But you are testing me."

"I'll go get Ford." Dipper said, leaving Mabel to sort out the problems between the two. Ford's lab was built into the basement and was easier to get to than the old lab. It was also a lot larger. "Hey Grunkle Ford." Dipper called as he headed down the stairs. "Mabel needs your help." He heard an explosion and hurried down closer. He found Ford looking at a little ord. "Grunkle Ford?"

"Oh hello Dipper." He smiled. "Look what I created!" He held up the orb. "An explosion in an orb. This could be quite useful." He grinned.

"That's cool." Dipper shook his head. "But Mabel needs your help with something."

"Very well." Ford grabbed his jacket, which was hanging on the back of a chair and they hurried up the stairs. They found Bree and Mabel laughing and Stan had left. "Hello Mabel, Bree." Ford said. "What can I do for you girls?"

Mabel looked at Ford. "My friend needs help. He's being hunted by a strange creature." Mabel gripped the bottle in her hand. "We need to help him."

"How are we supposed to help him if he's at sea?" Dipper asked.

"Wait what are we talking about?" Ford asked looking between Dipper and Mabel.

"Mermando." Mabel said.

"A merman that Mabel had a crush on that first summer." Dipper said. "But I thought he went off and got married to what was it a dolphin?" Dipper asked.

"A manatee. The queen of the manatee." Mabel frowned. "And he came back to Gravity Falls after being chased by a strange sea creature. He came for my help."

"So where is he right now" Ford asked.

"His letter says he's hiding out in a cave in Gravity Falls' lake. He said that there is water and land there so we can breath and talk there. Please Grunkle Ford can we help him?!"

Ford smiled. "Of course. Give me a minute to go find some equipment for us to dive." He paused half way back to the house. "Bree will you be joining us."

"I…" Bree looked at Mabel and sighed. "I guess I'll help Mabel."

"Yeah!" Mabel hugged Bree, who looked very uncomfortable. "You're a good friend." Bree didn't seem to know how to respond to that.

It wasn't long before the group of them arrived at the lake. Stan had decided to join them, much to Bree's annoyance. Mabel pulled on her scuba gear. She waded out into the water. "Come on!" Her voice was distorted by the gear.

"Shall we?" Bree smiled hefting the breathing tube into her back.

Dipper nodded and followed. Mabel apparently knew the way as she started swimming. Their grunkles followed a little behind. Dipper glanced over at Bree as she swam near him. He noticed she wasn't wearing her necklace, the one she always had tucked under her shirt. Dipper looked back out at the water in front of them where Mabel was swimming. She was swimming faster than the rest of them. Dipper wanted to laugh but froze. He turned and looked back. Ford and Stan had fallen behind a bit. Bree was between Dipper and Mabel and the two Grunkles. Dipper paddled slightly but froze as a dark shadow darted through the water. Merman- "GRUNKLE FORD!" Dipper cried out as loud as he could but with the breathing gear there was no way they could hear him. He started swimming towards them right as the shadow reached them. Atbasth

The creature looked like a lizard covered in dark blue green scales with a fish tail for legs. The creature went straight for Ford and Stan. Dipper watched as Bree shot forward and slammed into the creature sending it flopping away from the two older men. That got Ford and Stan's attention. They started to speed up towards Mabel. "BREE!" Dipper yelled, but it didn't travel far.

She started to swim quickly, reaching him quickly. She shot him a look that seemed to say hurry. He sped up but kept glancing backwards, the creature had disappeared. Not much later they reached a cave entrance. Mabel looked over at them. "What happened out there?" She asked after they surfaced for air in the cave.

"Are you okay Bree?" Ford asked taking off his own equipment.

"I'm fine." She pulled herself up onto the rocky gravel of the cave. She flinched, a long scratch ran down her leg.

"What did that?" Mabel asked.

"The monster." A voice spoke up. "You fought it?" A man with a fish tail and long brown hair spoke.

"Mermando!" Mabel grinned.

"Hello Mabel." The man spoke. "Dipper. Who are your friends?"

"This is my Grunkle Stan, Grunkle Ford and Bree." Mabel pointed to each of them as they spoke. "And we are here to help you."

"How do you plan to do that?" Mermando asked. "I came back for a small trip… And that thing trapped me in here." Mermando sat in a small pond of water that wasn't connected with the rest of the water. "I… haven't been able to leave for the past two days… Every time I try it comes after me."

"It's got claws I can see how that can make it difficult." Bree grumbled as she rubbed her leg. "Stan, Ford you two need to be more careful and observe your surroundings."

"Or what?" Stan shot back at her.

"You should be a little nicer to her Grunkle Stan, she did just save you from that monster." Dipper said pulling himself back up onto the gravel ground.

"Don't." Bree grumbled. She looked away. "I just couldn't see them get torn apart… I'm not cruel." She stood up and walked over to Mermando. "So you're a merman... Interesting I always thought you would be a lot different."

"What were you expecting?" Mermando blinked.

"A hunk." Bree shrugged. "But whatever." She looked at Ford. "Well you are the monster expert, what do you suggest Ford?"

He seemed to think for a while. "Well the monster doesn't look like it is going to be able to chase you as well out at sea… There's a lot more space. So I saw we get your friend out to the Ocean."

"I've tried that." Mermando interrupted. "Every time I try it chases me back here. The entrance is too small for it, that's the only thing that has saved my life. I don't dare stick my tail in the water either in case it manages to sneak it's way back in again."

"That was when you were alone." Mabel pointed out. "There are five of us now to help you."

"Agreed." Ford nodded. "We'll provide back up… Try to catch the creature. I am curious." Ford was rubbing his chin. "I bet we can find a big enough fish tank to store it in the lab."

"Not again." Stan sighed. "I thought we agreed no more pets in the lab after that whole three headed dog thing."

"I'm not planning on keeping it as a pet." Ford frowned. "And Shadow wasn't that bad a pet. He only chewed up the rug once."

"The whole rug!" Stan frowned. "In the whole house!"

"Okay!" Bree grumbled. "Are we going to make our decision now?"

"Let's do this together!" Mabel pumped her fist.

After making their plans Dipper wasn't not happy. He was the bait. He kicked his feet in the water to stay in one place as he looked around. He glanced over to see everyone else resting in hiding spots except for Mermando who was slowly swimming towards Dipper. He didn't look any happier than Dipper felt. Dipper glanced around in search of the creature but didn't see it. He narrowed his eyes but still nothing.

Mermando finally reached him and they started to swim. "So um… How's it going with that wife of yours?" Dipper called out through his face mask.

Mermando looked away sheepishly. "I'd rather not talk about that." He whispered.

Dipper chuckled and looked around. "I wonder why- THERE!" He yelled as loud as he could. He could see the creature swimming towards them. Dipper tensed. He really hated being bait. "SWIM!" Dipper yelled and Mermando took off towards the ocean. Dipper swam along behind him as fast as he could. He really hoped the others would come out soon.

He glanced over his shoulder, the creature was gaining on them. And then he saw Mabel and Stan coming out and chasing after the creature. Let's just hope this works! He sped up a little. Mermando was ahead of him now and speeding towards the open sea. Something grabbed his ankle and he creature had him, and then it let go. He looked back to see a grappling hook swirled around the creature's ankle. It was being pulled backwards by Ford and Mabel. Dipper looked down at his ankle where a red mark was already starting to form. He rubbed it and then swam after Mermando. "Go!" He waved his hand.

Mermando looked back and got a shocked look on his face. Something blurred past him. Dipper watched as the creature, dragging a shocked Ford, lunged at Mermando. He heard Mermando scream and then in slow motion Dipper watched as Ford pulled out an orb from his pocket and threw it with as much force as he could. The orb hit the creature and exploded. The creature was sent flying off towards the sea floor, bleeding.

Ford gestured for the surface and everyone, including Mermando. "Is everyone okay?" Mabel called after everyone surfaced.

"Yeah." Stan called out. "Poindexter what was that?"

"An explosion in an orb." Ford sighed. "No way the creature survived that. Darn it there goes my sample and myy orb."

"Thank you Grunkle Ford!" Mabel flung her arms around Ford's neck. "Thank you! You saved Mermando!"

Ford just smiled. "No problem Mabel."

"That creature tore out some of my scales." Mermando complained. "What was that?"

"Some kind of sea creature." Bree looked down at sea. "I'm glad that it's gone." She rubbed her leg. "But I doubt I'll be swimming in the lake for a while."

"I've never seen anything like it." Ford nodded. "Mermando here is the second intelligent creature with a fin I've seen."

"Second?" Stan frowned. "Oh right that mermaid we ran into a couple years ago. Ford went all goo goo eyes for her."

"If I remember correctly you were the one who went goo goo eyes for her." Ford frowned.

"Eh heh." Mermando coughed. "If you would excuse me I would like to leave before that creature returns."

"The creature is long dead." Dipper smiled. "You're safe."

"Go home!" Mabel smiled. "I'm sure your beautiful wife is waiting for you."

"Right…" Mermando muttered slightly and then swam off.

Mabel smiled. "Ah love…"

Dipper and Bree exchanged a look and both shrugged. "Let's head back to shore." Bree started swimming. "As much as I trust your little explosion ball Ford I would rather not test to see if that creature is truly dead."

"I'm telling you there is no way the creature is alive." Ford swam after her starting to explain how powerful the explosion was and how nothing could survive it.

Dipper just chuckled and began to swim back.

∆ **§ ∆§ ∆§ ∆§ ∆§ ∆§**

Bree threw her towel onto her bed and collapsed after it. She stretched out her arms and sighed. "Ugh that was exhausting." She looked over at the small brown box on her desk and reached over to it, pulling out her necklace. She hadn't brought it for fear of losing it in the water. "I wonder what that creature was… I kind of reminded me of a demon…" She rubbed a ringer over the cool metal of the pendent. She rolled over onto her stomach and reached down to pull out her Pine's family folder. "I think I was wrong." She whispered. "Dipper and Mabel…" She smiled. "They might just be my first real friends in a long time… Still don't like Ford or Stan though." She chuckled.

She slid out the picture of the younger Dipper, Mabel and Stan. "It's time I stop holding their families against them." She tossed the news clipping into the trash and slid the folder back into it's place. "It's not their fault they're related to Ford and Stan." She curled up and yawned before slowly falling asleep.

▲⸎▼⸎▲⸎▼⸎▲⸎▼⸎▲⸎▼⸎

The sea demon dragged itself to the beach and whimpered. It's fin lay limp and bloodied in the water. It should have been curled up and licking it's wounds but it couldn't. It screeched weakly and clawed at it's neck. A small jangle rang out as the bones tucked into its scale pouch shifted. The demon tried for the hundredth time to remove the ring of bones, but was unable to. A jolt ran through the creature's body as heavy footsteps came walking towards it.

The creature whimpered and slid forward the handful of scales it had retrieved from the merman. It weakly whimpered as a large hand reached down and scooped up the scales, jangling them in his hand. The demon jangled the bone ring again. And it was met with a boot to the face. The creature whimpered but all it's energy was gone and it slowly floated out to the middle of the lake before slowly sinking down to the bottom.

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	9. Chapter 9

Bree scribbled furiously as she walked down the hallway of campus. She really hated math. There was really nothing she hated more, well it was a toss up with the older Pines twins and math. "No that doesn't make sense." She grumbled under her breath as she tried to correct the current problem. She stopped as she heard raised voices. Peeking her head around the corner Bree recognized the two men, Ford and Professor Gilroy.

Bree had only met the Professor of Demonology once before and he seemed to be nice enough. Now the Professor's face was slightly red as he faced off against Ford.

"What I teach in my class is up to me! It is none of you business Pines!"

"I have family in your class!" Ford stabbed a finger at Gilroy's chest. "When you put my family in danger!" Atbash

"I would never put any of my students in danger, even to affect you!" Gilroy shoved Ford's hand away. "Now out of my way Ford I have a lesson to prep."

"Trust me Gilroy. Summoning demons is dangerous!" Ford frowned.

Bree narrowed her eyes. What does Ford know about demons? I've never heard him talk about demons…. Does he actually know stuff?

"Oh yeah I forgot." Gilroy humphed. "You think you're such an expert because you traveled to different dimensions." Gilroy smirked. "Like I really believe that."

Ford frowned deeper. "I did. And I gained more knowledge there than you could ever learn from those books of yours. Don't summon any more demons."

"I'll do what I want." Gilroy hissed. "At least in my classes I don't have to have a spy watching my every move."

Bree felt a little guilt but pushed it down as she thought of her grandmother. SHe leaned a little closer to the feuding teachers.

"Do you want to get your students killed?" Ford had a dark tone to his voice.

"I won't." Gilroy waved a hand dismissively. He turned on his heel and started to walk but stopped a little away. "You should be wary Stanford Pines… You have eyes on you." He continued on his walk away.

Bree quickly pushed away and slipped into a classroom nearby as Ford stormed away. She watched his back, feeling a little guilty as she saw his misery. She fingered her necklace. "I really should be taking his side though…" She sighed. "If Gilroy is putting students in danger… I'd better let Grandma know." Bree looked at her math notes and groaned. "Great…"

⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽

Dipper crewed on his pencil as he looked down at his personal journal. He was having difficulty deciding what to write about the sea creature that had attacked them a couple days ago. He already had the drawing done but he didn't know much. Dipper sighed and slid the journal away and looked over at Stan and Mabel, who were watching reruns of Duck Detective and laughing and talking about their memories of the past.

"OW!" A loud voice jolted all of them out of their own thoughts.

"Ford?" Stan stood up. Ford came walking into the living room a moment later. He was sucking on his finger.

"What happened?" Mabel asked jumping up and rushing over to see.

"I cut my finger while cutting apples." He grumbled, allowing Mabel to pull out the first aid kit and bandage his finger with a bright pink bandaid.

"You've been injuring yourself all afternoon." Stan leaned against the wall. "First you hit your head while you were looking through the closet for your jacket and then you stubbed your toe entering the room."

"Not to mention I had a stray baseball hit me in the head while I was passing the baseball field." Ford rubbed his head as if he could still feel the wound.  
"What did you break a mirror or something?" Mabel laughed.

"There's no such thing as bad luck." Ford frowned. "I have researched it already. Bad luck doesn't exist any more than good luck."

"Hard to believe that." Dipper chuckled.

"Not funny Dipper." Ford turned to walk back into the kitchen and walked into the wall. He flinched and began to rub his nose.

"I don't remember Ford ever being this injury prone." Stan frowned. "Dipper?"

"What?" Dipper blinked.

"What do you think?" Both Mabel and Stan were now watching him.

"Maybe he's just having a bad day." Dipper looked back down at his journal and then set it aside and began to work on homework for Professor Gilroy's class. Demonology 101 by Jarred Gilroy. Dipper ignored the two and began to read the newest chapter.

There are many different kinds of demons. Most fall under four categories. First is the elemental demons. Second is chaos demons. Third is the dream demons. Fourth is the small demons.

Danger level 4, the strongest and most deadly, is the dream demons. These demons should be avoided at all cost. For more information see chapters 15.

Danger level 3, the chaos demons. These demons come in all shapes and sizes and cause destruction. For more information see chapter 14.

Danger level 2, the elemental demons. These demons take on traits related to one of the four elements (water, earth, fire, and air). They are easy to beat as long as you have a way to cut them off from their element or if you injure them to the point of death. For more information see chapter 13.

Danger level 1, the weakest and easiest to deal with, is the small demons. Small demons are known mostly as tricksters and trouble makers. They were often related to bad luck and-.

Dipper stopped reading and looked up at where he could see Ford picking up pieces of broken glass, probably from a cup. Dipper looked back down at the book and then flipped forward to chapter 11, the one on small demons. There were a few hand drawn pictures and one had a creature that looked like a fairy. Only it had black wings that had holes in them. The creature had three eyes and was shown sitting on a tree branch watching a man fall into a pit fall trap.

A small demon that has been seen the most is a trickster demon. Known to haunt humans until their unfortunate death. These little creatures are easy to summon and after they have haunted one human to their content they return to their home dimension. Be wary these demons are hard to control. (For more information on controlling demons look at chapter 20). Known as being summoned for revenge and trouble making. If summoned must be kept under a tight reign.

Dipper set the book down. "I have an idea." He stood up and walked over to Ford. "Grunkle Ford hang on."

"What is it Dipper?" Ford asked throwing away the last of his broken cup, cutting his finger again. He grumbled and looked at the one bandaid he already wore. "Bad luck doesn't exist."

"Maybe, maybe not. But a trickster demon might." Dipper said. This got Ford's attention.

"What do you mean?" Ford reached over and sat down in a chair. "A trickster demon?"

"Yeah. I was reading my textbook for my demon class and I-."

"The class Gilroy teaches?" He folded his arms over his chest. "Whatever he is having you read is-."

"Grunkle Ford." Dipper interrupted. Stan and Mabel poked their heads in at Dipper's voice. "The book says that there is a demon that pulls pranks on people.. It's small and will keep pulling pranks until the person is dead or it is called off."

"Wait why would there be a demon haunting Grunkle Ford?" Mabel asked.

"Gilroy." Ford frowned. "He's the only one with the knowledge and ability to."

"Why would this Gilroy send a demon to chase you?" Stan asked folding his arms over his chest in a way that mirrored Ford. "I would expect it out of that old hag Ice but not some random guy."

"Gilroy and I… We don't see eye to eye." Ford frowned. "We have different perspectives… In fact the two of us got into an argument this morning." Ford looked at Dipper. "Does the book say anything useful on catching the thing?"

"No." Dipper frowned. "But it said that the demon is small. And I figure we beat Bill so why not this little guy?"

Ford nodded. "Alright… So then Dipper. What do we do?"

Dipper looked at Ford in shock. Ford had always been the one to call the shots… Not Dipper… "Right." Dipper nodded. "Since it's after you Grunkle Ford you'll have to play bait."

Half an hour a later they were out in the backyard and Ford was holding a hammer, looking a little uncertain. He glanced over at Dipper and then began to lightly hammer a nail into a board. He was pretending to make a bird house, not that he was happy with it but Mabel insisted that he make a birdhouse.

Dipper, Mabel and Stan all stood around the perimeter hiding behind trees and looking around. Dipper had shown the picture multiple times to each of them and now they were looking for it.

Dipper touched the makeshift vacuum container unit and looked over to where Mabel and Stan were moving slightly along their lines. He moved slowly as his eyes scanned over the trees above him. He had to find the little creature before it hurt Ford worse than it already had.

"Ouch!" Ford grumbled, apparently he had hit his thumb with the hammer. "Darn it! I am so sick of this!"

Dipper heard laughter. Like a small wicked toy laughing. He looked up to see the creature sitting on a tree branch. It did have three eyes; one red, one green and one gold. Dipper slowly walked towards it, makeshift containment gun at the ready. He stepped forward slowly and quietly until he arrived at the bottom of the tree. Then in one quick motion he turned it on and pointed it up and caught the little creature in the container. "GOT IT!" He yelled. He looked down as the little creature glared at him. It's red eye seemed to be glowing more than the others.

"You caught it?!" Mabel came running over. "Wow." She crouched down and looked at it. "Hi there little demon!"

"Don't talk so friendly to a demon Mabel." Stan scolded as he walked up behind her. Ford followed a moment later, shaking his hand, still grumbling.

"So this is the little demon that has been cursing me all day?" Ford crouched down and the demon stuck it's tongue out at Ford. "I don't like it."

"Hey." Mabel said suddenly. "What is it wearing?"

Dipper looked closer. He could see it as well. A small necklace made of bones. "Isn't that… The same thing the bat had worn…" He looked up at Ford who looked just as shocked.

"What does this mean?" Stan asked.

"It means that Gilroy has a bigger plan." Ford frowned. "And we need to take care of this little guy." He moved away from the creature. "I'll see what I can figure out… I might have a way to send him to another dimension…"

"Hey." Dipper said. "Let's make a deal demon."

"Dipper!" Mabel gapsed.

"He's not Bill." Dipper said calmly. "We take that necklace of bones off you and you leave and go back home." Dipper looked at the little demon. It looked at Dipper and blinked a few times with all three eyes.

It chirped and nodded and tugged at the necklace. It chirped again.

"Dipper…" Ford warned.

"I know what I'm doing." Dipper reached down and opened the container. The demon flew up slightly and continued to tug at the collar as it chirped over and over again.

Dipper reached down and pulled the bone collar off. It didn't seem that hard. The little demon continued to chirp happily. It swirled around them for a moment and then zipped off.

"Was that a good idea?" Mabel asked.

"Well it's leaving Grunkle Ford alone." Dipper smiled. "Plus I'm kind of hoping it gets its revenge on Professor Gilroy a little for what he did to Grunkle Ford."

"Thanks Dipper." Ford rubbed Dipper's head. "Let's hope it actually does something good… And we'll have to keep an eye on Gilroy… Dipper you're going to have to be careful."

"I will." Dipper nodded. "Leave it to me."

"I would love to help." Mabel smiled.

"Okay." Dipper grinned. "We'll work together. Mystery Twins."

"Mystery Twins." Mabel grinned.

R slkv blf vmqlbvw gsrh. R glow blf gl dzgxs lfg ufg uli Troilb.


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm so excited !" Mabel squeezed Dipper's arm.

Dipper just sighed. "We just saw them a couple months ago." He slowly unpeeled Mabel's hands from his arm finding a large red mark already forming.

"Oh come on Dipper, can't you be more excited!" Mabel looked out the window. "I'm going to show them our room! Oh and they have to meet Greta and Candy!"

"Calm down kiddo." Stan chuckled as he walked up behind the two of them. "You look pretty nervous there Dipper."

"He shouldn't be." Ford slapped Dipper on the back. "You've fought monsters before. You've almost died how many times."

"Exactly!" Dipper glanced back at his two grunkles. "Don't forget!" He glared at them.

"Yes yes." Stan chuckled. "Ford locked up his lab and we are to keep all creatures away for the next 48 hours." He headed towards the kitchen.

"I don't see the problem." Mabel finally looked away from the window. "I told Mom and Dad about all our adventures every summer."

"Yeah but they never believed you." Dipper said. "They never believed either of us." Dipper looked out the window as a black car drove up in the driveway. "If they learn who knows how they will react."

"We'll be on our best behavior." Ford patted Dipper's back and headed towards the door. "Now come on and welcome your parents."

Dipper took a deep breath, while Mabel ran straight out the door. Dipper followed a little less eager. Mabel had sent them a text a month ago informing them about parent's weekend. Dipper had thought they wouldn't come but to his surprise they had both agreed to come for a couple days. Dipper's father was taking out a suitcase from the back of the car. He stood tall with neat combed dark brown hair. He wore a dark black suit.

His brown eyes found Dipper. "Dipper come help me with this bag please."

"Coming." Dippe rushed over and took the suitcase while his father pulled out a laptop bag.

"Dear I thought you were leaving that behind?" Dipper's mother had long brown hair pulled back with a clip. She wore a light grey pant suit.

"I was but Thomas needed my help with the code. I couldn't let him down."

Dipper's mom rolled her eyes. "Very well." She walked over and hugged Dipper, she had already hugged Mabel. "It's good to see you kids."

"Hey Mom." Dipper smiled. "Come on in!" He led the way in.

"Hello." Stan greeted his niece-in-law and nephew. "How was the drive?"

"Long." Dipper's dad shook Stan's hand.

"We hit traffic." Dipper's mom smiled. "It's nice to finally meet you Stanley." She looked over at Ford. "And Stanford. "I have to thank you again for allowing Dipper and Mabel to come back again and again each summer to live with you."

"Right." Ford smiled. "Nice to meet you as well."

Dipper's dad paused and looked at Ford. "You know from the memories I have from when I was a child you don't seem the same."

"Time can change a person." Stan interrupted. "Come on in and set down." He ushered the two in towards the living room. "We've already got your room all set up. And dinner will be ready soon."

"Yes yes." Dipper's dad waved his hand. "Dipper you can just set our bag in our room."

"Got it." Dipper lugged the bag after him. He sighed. "This is going to be a long couple days." Dipper whispered before going to join his family for dinner.

Dipper glanced around surprised at how many parents had actually showed up for the freshman parents weekend. He paused as he noticed Dean Ice and a man talking. The man looked a lot like Bree. And then he was Bree walking out of the cafeteria carrying two cups of coffee. Dipper glanced at Mabel, who was energetically pointing out where her classes were, before heading over to say hi to Bree. "Did your parents come?" He asked walking up behind her.

She turned and glanced at him and then glanced towards her grandmother and the man. "My dad. I see your parents came."

Dipper smiled. "Yeah. You have no idea how hard it had been to keep them from learning about all the supernatural around here."

Bree raised her eyebrows. "How are you explaining your major?"

Dipper smiled. "They think it is a filler major and I will change it after a year when I find there is nothing I can do with it."

Bree just shrugged. "They have no idea how useful it can be… especially in Gravity Falls."

"Bree." The man, Bree's father, came walking up behind them. "Who is this?"

"Dipper." Bree said simply. "He's a TA with me."

"I see." Bree's father nodded. "Bree your mother just called. It seems that something came up and she won't be able to make it. She apologizes and hopes to see you at Christmas time."

"No problem." Bree shrugged. Bree's father nodded and turned back to talking with Dean Ice. "You'd better go talk with your family, they are looking at you." Bree smiled. "Enjoy your time with them and good luck on the no monsters thing."

"Thanks." Dipper nodded. "And sorry about your mom."

"It's no big deal. I didn't expect her to come. She hates Gravity Falls. She has since we were kids."

"Oh…" Dipper rubbed the back of his neck and then headed back to his family. His mother was on her phone now. Probably talking to one of her coworkers about a case they were working on, judging from her back turned to the others. "I'm back."

"Who was that?" Dipper's father asked.

"A friend. Come on we'll show you our room." Dipper said, quickly changing the subject.

"YES!" Mabel grinned right as her mom hung up her phone. "Come on!"

 **Ӝ** ∂ **$Ӝ** **$Ӝ** ∂ **$Ӝ** **$Ӝ** ∂ **$Ӝ**

"Ford." Stan called as he walked around the house. "Hey Ford!" He paused and glanced around. No answer. "FORD!" He headed down the stairs that led to the basement. The door to the lab was open a crack. "Hey Ford!"

"Stanley?" Ford called from inside the lab.

Stan walked into the lab and found Ford standing in front of a portal. "What are you doing? I thought you promised Dipper no lab?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

"They won't be back for hours." Ford waved his hand and looked at the portal. "Besides I had to finish this experiment. I've been working on this for years and I finally got it to work."

"What is it this time?" Stan asked looking at the portal. It was small, about the size of a soccer ball.

"I've opened a door into another dimension. And I got it to stay open for a whole ten minutes already. My goal is to see how long it stays open."

"Dipper isn't going to be happy about this." Stan chuckled.

"It will be fine. Nothing is coming through, it's too small."

"I bet Dipper and Mabel could squeeze their way in if they really wanted to." Stan grabbed his brother's arm. "Now come on I need your help in the kitchen!"

"Alright, alright." Ford grumbled. The two brothers headed up the stairs and chuckled as they walked. Neither of them noticed a small brown shape squeezing its way out of the portal.

⸙‽⁂※⸙‽⁂※⸙‽⁂※⸙‽⁂※⸙‽⁂※

"We're back!" Mabel yelled as they walked into the older Pines twins' house. Her mother was on the phone again about a case her Paralegal was having difficulty with.

"Hey!" Stan called out. "How was it?"

"Fun!" Mabel smiled. "You should have seen all the people."

"Oh I have." Ford chuckled.

"Oh that's right you teach there Uncle Stanford." Dipper's dad sat on the couch. "What do you teach again?"

"I teach paranormal studies." Ford said, glancing at Dipper for a moment. "It's actually a big study here."

"I'm surprised." Dipper's dad looked at Dipper as if he finally realized why Dipper wanted to study the paranormal. "With your education I'm surprised you wanted to teach that."

"Well it was always an interesting subject to me." He wiggled his extra finger and Dipper's dad seemed to relax.

"Sorry." Dipper's mom hung up her phone. Before anyone could say anything there was a large crash. "What was that?"

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other and then glanced at the two Grunkles. They both looked confused as well. "It sounded like it came from the kitchen." Dipper's dad stood up. "Could a stray cat have gotten in?"

"I'll go check!" Mabel jumped up.

"I'll go with her!" Dipper said.

"There's no need for you to go." Their mom chuckled. "It's just a cat." She headed towards the kitchen. A moment later, before Dipper or Mabel could say anything there was a scream. This time everyone rushed towards the kitchen. A small grey brown creature stood on the table eating the roasted chicken Stan and Ford has left to cool. It was hunched over and had large floppy ears. The creature had wrinkly skin and no fur. It's large amber eyes glared at them and it hissed out at them.

"What is that?!" Dipper's father pulled his wife away from the creature.

"GRUNKLE FORD!" Dipper accused.

"What?" Ford gasped.

"You did this didn't you?"

"I-."

"Forget it." Dipper turned to the creature. He slowly inched around to the side, the creature's eyes darting between him and his family. It clutched the chicken close to its chest.

"Dipper!" His father hissed under his breath. "What are you doing?!"

"Don't worry." Stan rested a hand on the man's shoulder. "Dipper what do you need?!"

"Trash bag… Sturdy." Dipper whispered while still moving. "Grab me a weapon Grunkle Ford."

"Got it!" Ford left the room quickly.

"I'll protect Mom and Dad." Mabel moved in front of their parents. "Don't make any sudden movement." Mabel coached their parents.

Dipper stopped in front of the back door. He slowly opened it. A moment later Stan and Ford returned. Ford held what looked like a flame thrower and Stan carried in a handful of trash bags. The two looked at Dipper and nodded.

"Dipper!" His father hissed under his breath. But Dipper ignored him. "Mabel." Dipper nodded.

Mabel sprang towards the creature waving her arms. The creature screeched at her and then scrambled towards Ford. Ford turned on the device creating a stream of electricity that was sparking on and off at the creature. It jumped away towards Stan. Stan waved the trash bags and it darted towards Dipper and the open door.

The creature went streaking out into the forest and Dipper closed the door quickly. Then he looked at Ford. "What was that?!"

"It looked like a gremie." Ford said and glanced out the door. "But how…" He froze. "Oh."

"It came through your portal, didn't it poindexter." Stan grumbled. "And it ate our dinner."

"Sorry." Ford grumbled.

"Wh-What was that?" Dipper's mom gasped. "Dipper? Mabel?!"

"Oh just a Gremie." Mabel shrugged. "Don't worry Grunkle Ford I'll order some Pizza." She pulled out her cell phone. "Do we want Pepperoni?"

"How can you be so calm?!" Dipper's dad gasped. "That… That thing just came out of nowhere!"

"Actually it came from another dimension." Ford shrugged and sat down. "Not that odd."

"Wait you got the portal to open?!" Dipper sat up. "Really?!"

"Yes.. It's a little small but I did get it to open!"

"That's great! We should send a-."

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Dipper's mom yelled. "Answer me now!"

Dipper glanced at Ford and then sighed. "Welcome to Gravity Falls." He gestured to a chair and his parents sat. "So… Do you remember the stories Mabel used to tell you about our summers here? Especially our first summer?"

"Of course." Mabel's mom said. "She always had a vivid imagination."

"It wasn't an imagination." Dipper said slowly. "All those stories were true. And well you see… We know what we are doing."

"You really expect us to believe-." There was a knock at the door.

They all looked at it and Dipper slowly walked over and opened it. Standing there was one of the friendliest creatures that lived in Gravity falls, and one of the oddest. The Multibear. It was humming a familiar tune. Dipper almost started singing along with the disco girl lyrics. "Ah Dipper." The Multibear smiled. "I ran out of toilet paper can I get some more?"

"Oh yeah. Hey Grunkle Ford Multibear is here!" Dipper called out.

"Got it." Ford called out.

Dipper looked over at his parents who both had pales faces. He smiled. "Let me start from the beginning."

Two days later Dipper was watching his Grunkle Stan and Ford packing up the car. He stood next to his dad. "So um… Dad… Um… About us staying here…"

"I've seen what you can do son… I don't think I could take you away from here even if I wanted to… Besides you are an adult." His father smiled. "It is your decision for what you are going to do."

"Thanks." Dipper smiled at his father. "And I promise I'll look after Mabel."

"I'm sure you will… Just please be careful. Your mother and I would hate for anything to happen to you."

"Don't worry." Dipper shook his father's hand. "And if you come across anything weird feel free to give us a call. I'm sure we could figure it all out."

Hid dad nodded. "Yeah… Take care son." He walked over to hug Mabel and then headed towards his car.

Dipper leaned up against the house's support pole and watched his parents drive away. "Hey Dipper!" Ford called out. "Want to help us hunt down that Grimie?"

"Sounds good!" Dipper rushed over to where Ford was standing.


	11. Chapter 11

Dipper followed Mabel through the woods, carrying a stack of papers and a stapler. "Mabel!" He called out. "Come on how much longer?"

"We already put up flyers all over town, but what about all the creatures who live in the forest! I want this to be the best halloween party ever!" Mabel grinned.

Dipper sighed. "Come on Mabel, I don't think we want a grimmgoblin showing up to the party."

"Well duh!" Mabel laughed. "But what about the gnomes! Or even the multibear! The more the merrier!" Mabel took a flyer off the stack and stapled it to a nearby tree. "And we still need to discuss what our costumes will be this year!"

Dipper just sighed. "What are you trying to decide between?" He knew better than to try arguing with her.

"Let's see." Mabel hummed as she stapled another flyer up. "We have thing one and thing two from Cat in the Hat. A burger and fries, or a shake. Or a cookie and milk gallon."

Dipper nodded. "Okay."

"What do you think Dipper?" Mabel asked.

"You can choose Mabel." Dipper smiled. "But I think I would prefer not to have blue hair."

"So no thing one and two." Mabel nodded. "Sounds good." She headed towards another tree.

Dipper just glanced around as he walked. He paused as he noticed something. Tucked between a small grove of trees was a door. An old beat up wooden door, with a large golden number that said thirteen. "Hey Mabel look over there!" He pointed. "What is that?"

"Looks like a door! Let's go knock and see who is home!" She rushed over towards the door. Dipper rolled his eyes and followed. "Hello!" Mabel called as she knocked on the door. "Is anyone home?!" She held the flyer in her hand to her chest.

The door slowly creaked open. "Oh can we come in?" Mabel pushed the door open further. On the other side was a beat up shack. Dipper glanced around the door, it didn't look like there was a shack.

"Mabel wait." Dipper whispered, but she had already headed in. Dipper groaned but followed. It was empty. Dipper found another door on the other side of the shack. Mabel was already walking through it. "Mabel!" He rushed out to find them in the forest again. "That was weird. MABEL!" He groaned as his sister continued going through the forest. "MABEL!" He rushed after her. "Come on!"

A few minutes later the two came to a stop. In front of them was the mystery shack, only it looked younger. It looked like it had when they were kids. "Why is the mystery shack here?" Mabel walked towards the door. A moment later they heard two young voices.

"Wait up!" A boy wearing a striped shirt with brown hair came running out of the house. A boy with brown hair wearing glasses came running out of the house after his twin. "Come on!"

"Catch up!" The non glasses one laughed. "Let's go punch something!"

"We aren't." The glasses one smirked. "We're going to explore that cave we found yesterday." He held up a stone tablet. "I think we might be able to find another piece there."

"Dipper who are they?" Mabel whispered.

"They kind of… look like.."

"Stanley." The glasses one cried out again as his twin went running into the forest. "WAIT UP!"

"Stanley?" Mabel whispered.

"Come on!" Dipper grabbed her arm and the two chased after the young men. They continued to run until they arrived at a cave. The two stan's stood in front of it holding a flashlight.

"Stanley wait." Ford said suddenly.

"What do you want now Stanford?" Stan stopped.

"Someone is following us." Ford spun around. "Who's there? COme out!"

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other before slowly coming out of the forest. They looked over at the younger versions of their great uncles. "Um hi." Mabel smiled. "We weren't-.  
"You were totally following us!" Stan folded her arms over his chest. "Why?"

"We were curious." Dipper held out a hand. "We noticed you holding that stone. Can I take a look at it?" Dipper took a step forward.

Ford looked at them and then slowly held out the tablet to Dipper. Dipper took it and looked down. He froze as he recognized a symbol on it. The same symbol that was on the hat he always wore, except for today. He hadn't worn it today because Mabel had dragged him out before he could grab it. "This symbol." He whispered.

"HAVE YOU SEEN IT BEFORE?!" Ford's eyes lit up. "WHERE?"

"Oh come on Stanford." Stan rolled his eyes. "How could these strangers know anything about your strange book?"

"Book?" Mabel asked.

Ford nodded slowly and slid a journal book out of his jacket pocket. It looked just like the journal only instead of a six fingered hand there was a pine tree. Dipper stared in shock. "Wow."

"Have you seen it before?" Ford asked again.

"Yeah. It's on different things all over the place."

"I'm betting it's important." Ford took the journal back. So we're here to find out how this stone relates to the author."

Dipper looked to Mabel who shrugged.

"Wanna come with us?" Ford asked.

"Stanford!" Stan hissed.

"They might be able to help us." Ford hugged the journal close. "This might lead us to the author of the journal!"

"Fine." Stan shrugged and headed into the cave. Dipper, Mabel and Ford followed.

"So.. You two live here?" Nabel asked.

"No, duh. Who would want to live in a cave." Stan huffed.

"I think they mean gravity falls." Ford shook his head. "But still he's right. We are just visiting. Our grandmother lived not far from here and we are spending the summer with her. Mom and dad thought it would be good for us to see a bit of the world."

"Sounds fun." Mabel smiled. "I bet you have lots of adventures here!"

"You bet!" Stan grinned.

"Mostly we are trying to find the author." Ford looked at the journal. "I'm thinking that stone is a piece of a bigger stone that will tell us how to find him. I haven't been able to figure out the code yet."

Dipper looked down at the stone. He couldn't figure out why his symbol was on it. "I feel like I've seen some of the letters before." Not that they were really letters.

"You have?" Ford's eyes seemed to be flowing again. Not in the possessed way but in the excited way.

Dipper nodded. "So this author… What do you know about him?"

"Nothing really, except he is amazing. He's crazy smart and he seems to understand what is going on around here."

"I bet you would love to meet him."

Before Ford could respond there was a noise. Like something crashing.

"I bet it's one of those bats again!" Stan was grinning. "I'm gonna hit it!"

"Hang on." Mabel frowned. "You don't know what it is. It could be friendly."

Stan just rolled his eyes.

"Sounds like… Laughter." Dipper whispered. They all went quiet and they could hear it now. A deranged laughter. Dipper and Mabel took the lead this time. Stan and Ford followed right behind.

A few moments later they came into a clearing lit by a small fire. An old man crouched low over the Fire rubbing his hands together. He was balding with patches of white tufts on his head.

"Oh it's just old crazy gleeful." Ford shrugged. "I guess this must be where he lives."

"Gleeful?" Dipper whispered and looked at Mabel. She mouthed the word Gideon.

"Who's there?!" The old man jumped up and pointed a spoon at them. "What do you want?"

"Is this yours?" Dipper held up the stone piece.

"My plate!" Old man Gleeful cried out. "You found it!"

"Plate?" Ford frowned.

"Yeah!" He came closer to Dipper. "I've been missin it!"

"Where did you get it?" Dipper asked, pulling the stone closer to his chest.

"In an old shack." Gleeful frowned. "Give it back!"

"A shack?" Ford asked

"It was holdin the door open. That place was weird. There were strange noises comin from beyond that door. So I let the door close and took the plate with me." He laughed again.

Ford looked crestfallen. Dipper in the other hand was putting his own pieces together. An alternate dimension! "Listen can I keep it?" Dipper asked Gleeful.

Gleeful and Ford looked at Dipper. "I think I know where this comes from."

"Where?" Ford asked.

Dipper glanced at Mabel. "Let's talk outside." Stan and Frod looked at each other and then nodded. The four Pines left the cave and headed back towards the Mystery Shack. They could hear Gleeful yelling after them, but the old man didn't come.

"So?" Ford asked. "Where?"

Dipper glanced over his shoulder for a moment. "Another dimension." Both boys stopped. "What?"

"What Dipper is trying to say is we come from another dimension, though that shack Gideon was talking about."

"Another dimension. Wow." Ford whispered.

Dipper smiled. He imagined he had been a lot like this version of Ford when he had first met Ford. "Listen Ford, Stan can we take this. I don't think it will lead to your author. I think it is from our dimension."

"Ford?" Ford asked and looked at Stan. He smiled. "I like the sound of that."

"Then I'm Stan." Stan smirked and lightly shoved at Ford's shoulder. The two brothers laughed.

"So can we take it?" Dipper asked.

"Other dimensions don't really exist." Stan chuckled. "You're pulling our legs."

"No really!" Mabel laughed. "Come on we'll show you." She started running towards the abandoned shack. They arrived there shortly later. Again they found just a door there, no shack.

"What is this?" Stan asked.

"The door to our dimension!" Mabel grinned and opened it wide open. The inside of the shack showed. Both Stan and Ford stared in amazement.

"Listen we're going through. Dipper looked at them. "Is it okay?"

"Yeah." Ford nodded. "I think we'll be fine on finding who the author is."

"I think so too." Dipper leaned down so he was facing Ford. "Listen can you two promise me something."

"Sure." Stan nodded.

"Stick together, no matter what happens." Dipper rested his hand on their shoulders. "Whatever happens in the future you two stick together. You are siblings and you need to stay together as long as possible." Stan and Ford looked at each other and smiled widely. The two high fived/sixed each other. "And one more thing. Promise me that if you meet a demon named Bill you won't trust him or do anything he says."

The brothers looked at each other and then him. They nodded.

"Good." Dipper stood back up and looked down at the stone piece. "You two take care." He looked at Mabel. She nodded and the two of them headed back through the door. Dipper closed it behind him.

"That was amazing!" Mabel whispered.

"Yeah…. Do you think.." Dipper stopped. "Come on let's go home. I need to start doing some research about this stone."

"But we need to finish putting up the flyers!" Mabel protested.

Dipper sighed. "Fine." He shook his head.

Ford and Stan walked back towards the Mystery Shack. "That was weird." Stan said. "Do you think they were really from another dimension?"

"I think so." Ford looked down at the journal. "Hey Stan, do you think the demon he mentioned… Do you think it was that diamond guy Will?"

"Naw." Stan chuckled. "Now come on. Gram Mab is making that pasta dish that is perfect!" He started running.

"Wait up Stan!" Ford cried as he chased his brother.

Dipper set the stone tablet on his desk and looked at his personal journal. He drummed his fingers over the desk and frowned. He knew he had seen the symbols before but he couldn't figure out where. Of course there was the pine tree but besides that there was what looked like a backwards three, and upside down triangle, bolded us facing multiple directions, a diamond and many others. He drummed his fingers more and more. He groaned and leaned back in his seat.

"This is going to be tough." He stretched his hands over his shoulder and started to take his notes down on the tablet and the symbols. He was going to decode it. He was determined.

Zxk vlr cfdrb lrq texq qeb qxyib pxvp?

Stone tablet found here- art/Stone-Tablet-Piece-1-640922674?ga_submit_new=10%253A1476843479&ga_type=edit&ga_changes=1&ga_recent=1


	12. Chapter 12

"You'd better do something to get your grade up!"

Bree looked up as Ford practically yelled at one of his students. She glanced over at Dipper who was furiously scribbling something in his personal journal. "Hey Dipper." She whispered. "Don't you think Ford is being too hard?"

"What?" Dipper looked up.

"Ford. Don't you think he's being a little hard on that guy?" Bree nodded toward the student who was frowning.

"Oh class is over!" Dipper glanced around.

Bree rolled her eyes. "Wow what is distracting you so much?" She shook her head.

"This code."

Bree leaned in to see a bunch of symbols scribbled on the paper. "What is this?"

Dipper glanced at her and then back at the paper. "A strange code I found. I'm trying to figure out what is says."

"Well that's an e." Bree pointed to the symbol of a triangle upside down. "I used to see that on the side of my elementary school all the time. There was a crazy old guy who used to draw it and many other symbols."

"And you remember what this symbol means?" Dipper asked.

"Well I asked him and he told me. I only remember though because I thought it was cool that this symbol was in my name three times."

"I see." Dipper write and e next to the symbol. "Not that it really helps me. I still have no idea what this thing says."

"Have you talked to Ford?

Dipper paused to think and then shook his head. "You think he would know?"

"He is a knowledgeable guy. Annoying yes, but knowledgeable." Bree shrugged and watched as Dipper went to talk to Ford. She leaned up against her seat and watched as the student Ford had been yelling at left. Something is up with that guy… I know he's not really putting much effort into his work and he's closing to failing but Ford is just adding fuel to the fire. This is college, if he doesn't want to fully participate then oh well his loss.

Bree sighed and stood up. "See ya!" She waved her hand and grabbed her bag.

"Hang on a moment." Ford called.

Bree sighed. It wasn't like she was in a rush today. Her next class wasn't for another two hours. She turned to look at Ford. "You have something you need to discuss with me?"

"Yes." Ford nodded. "That young man, Ruffus, you grade his papers right. Is he just not putting in the effort or is he not understanding it?"

"I'm thinking he expected this class to be an easy A." Bree shrugged. "If he doesn't want to put in the effort then no problem. I'm sure that paranormal studies isn't his major so I'm not losing any sleep over his lack of effort."

Ford frowned. "I don't like to think-."

"Listen Ford, not all of your students are going to pass or get As. It is their sweat not yours if one student isn't putting in all his effort. Truthfully I don't even pay that much attention to your day to day lessons."

"But don't you want to know this?" Dipper looked shocked.

"Not really." Bree shrugged. "I don't plan on majoring in this. My plan is to become a reporter." She smiled as she thought of her plans.

"I can't see you being a reporter." Dipper said.

"Why not? I want to travel the world and see it. And I'll write up and report on what I see." She laughed, even seeing Ford's face didn't upset her when she thought of her plans. "Someday you'll see my name on many articles." She chuckled and headed towards the door. "See you."

⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽⸙‽

Dipper looked down at his notes for the stone tablet. Apparently Ford recognized the symbols but he had no idea of what they meant. He only knew he had seen them before. Ford had promised to call Dipper if he found any information about the symbols, either in his notes or memories. Meanwhile Dipper was left sitting under a tree and trying to figure out what the stone said. What he really wanted was to find the rest of it- he was sure that there was at least another two pieces, maybe more.

"Hey Dipper." He looked up to see Wendy walking towards him.

"Hey!" Dipper smiled. "Heading off to class?"

"Yep." Wendy smiled. "What about you?" She leaned over to look down at stone. "What's that? Those symbols… What do they mean?"

"That's what I want to know." Dipper sighed. "We found this the other day and we think it means trouble. I'm trying to figure out what it says though so we can get ahead of this."

"Well good luck translating that. Looks like it's going to be a little rough." She chuckled.

"Thanks." Dipper smiled but froze. "Did you-." He was interrupted as the ground shook. Wendy looked around. "That was weird."

"Yeah." Dipper stood up. "This doesn't seem good."

The two were interrupted by a Dipper's phone ringing. They glanced at each other and Dipper picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Dipper!" It was Bree, whispering.

"Bree, what's going on?"

"There's a… a demon…" Bree was still whispering. "Ford's classroom… Please get help." And then it went silent.

"Bree!" Dipper frowned. "Come on!" He started running towards the classroom. He dialed up Mabel as he ran. "Mabel listen! There is a demon in Ford's classroom- call Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford and tell them to come! I'm heading there now with Wendy."

"Got it." Mabel understood the gravity of the situation and wasn't about to talk his ear off. Dipper could hear noise as he got closer to the classroom. Crashing. He stopped and Wendy slid behind him. They both peeked into the classroom and found what looked like a large wolf knocking into a door. The wolf itself not only had red fur but also had a snake for a tail and scales up and down it's back legs.

"What is that?" Wendy whispered.

"A demon." Dipper whispered. He looked over and spotted a familiar figure sitting on the floor. A small circle of fire surrounded the man crouching there. "Rufus."

"What?" Wendy asked.

"A classmate of mine… He was mad at Ford." Dipper sighed. "Let's go." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun, specifically a thunder gun. Ford had done a lot with it and it was pretty much perfect. Wendy nodded and the two moved into the classroom silently. They crouched behind the seats and slowly started moving down towards the door.

"What is that?" Wendy whispered, nodding towards the door.

"Ford's office." Dipper whispered. "I'm guessing Bree is in there."

The wolf suddenly perked up and growled. It turned away from Bree and started walking towards them. It growled and the fur around it's neck lit up on fire.

"Elemental demon." Dipper whispered. The wolf howled and started running towards them.

"DIpper!" Wendy gasped.

"I see it coming!" Dipper stood up and shot the gun at it. The demon roared and avoided the thunder, moving closer to Rufus.

"Destroy them. Show them that I deserve an A." Rufus was whispering. His voice sounded slightly demented.

"Rufus stop!" Dipper called out at him. "No grade is worth all this!"

"An A… I need an A… Dad won't be happy… without an A…"

The wolf growled and it's tail swiped, also sparking with more fire. It howled and came charging towards them again.

"DIPPER!" A bolt of lightly shot past them and nailed the wolf in the chest. It went sprawling out on the ground and whimpered slightly. "You okay?" Ford rested a hand on Dipper's shoulder. "You alright kid?" combined cipher

"I'm fine." Dipper looked at the wolf as it stood up. "That thing is tough."

"Wolf demon?" Mabel asked.

"Looks more like a fire demon." Stan said as the two entered the room. "Hey Wendy."

"Hey Stan." Wendy nodded. "Ready for all this?"

"An A…" Rufus whispered. "An A…"

"What's wrong with that kid?" Ford frowned. "No A is worth summoning a demon." Ford shot at the wolf again as it charged towards them. "And what is it doing here?"

"After us I guess. 'Dipper said. "You because you're the teacher and then Bree and I because we're the TAs."

"Bree?" Ford and Stan looked at Dipper, who nodded towards the office room.

"DIPPER WATCH OUT!" Wendy pushed Dipper as a fireball went hauling towards them. Stan and Ford had protected Mabel.

"Wendy!"

"I'm okay." Her clothes were a little singed but Wendy seemed fine. "Man that is one angry oversized wolf."

"Yeah." Dipper smiled. "Let's go put it in the pound."

Ford, Stan, Wendy, and Mabel nodded. The five of them split up and went running in different directions in the room. The wolf howled and went running towards Ford.

"GRUNKLE FORD!" Dipper and Mabel yelled together. And then the wolf howled and went stumbling. It tripped over it's paws and seemed to shrink. The fire on it went out. Dipper looked over to the Bree holding a bucket and holding it over Rufus, who was soaking wet. The fire circle around him had gone out. Bree was breathing deeply and Dipper noticed that her clothes were singed and in some places burnt.

"GET IT!" She yelled.

Both Dipper and Ford acted at the same time and shot together. The demon wolf howled out in pain before turning into a small ball of flames and then going out completely.

Bree sighed and stumbled back. "That was awful." She collapsed back. "And that is why you never yell at your students." She sat down in one of the nearby seats.

Dipper sighed and went walking towards Rufus. "Are you okay?" He reached out a hand and Rufus slapped his hand away. "Leave me alone." He whispered. "I don't want your help." He was clutching at something. "Listen-."

"I'll kick you out of this class." Ford folded his arms over his chest. "You summoned a demon. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that during day one of class. NEVER. I repeat NEVER summon a demon."

"I could control it."

"It was controlling you!" Stan shoved at Rufus' chest as he stood up. "That thing nearly killed all of us. Demons control you. You can't trust them."

Dipper looked over to see Bree fingering her necklace chain. She was still breathing heavily. He walked over. "You okay?"

"I nearly got killed by that thing." She sighed. "I nearly died… I have so much left I want to do… Sometimes I hate this town." She looked at Dipper. "Let's talk to Ford about not angering people who have a chance at summoning demons."

Dipper smiled. "Yeah no problem."

"Hey Dipper!" Wendy called.

"Talk to you later." Dipper smiled at Bree and then headed over to Wendy. "What's up?"

"I'm going to head to class. Let me know what happens later, k." Wendy smiled.

"Yeah no problem."

"See ya." Wendy headed towards the door.

"DIPPER!" Mabel called over. He turned to see her holding something up. A stone piece. His eyes widened and he ran over. He took the stone from her. It looked just like the other one. Only this one had Mabel's symbol on it and more letter symbols on it. He counted a couple upside down triangles-es. "Where did you find this?" Dipper looked at Rufus who was shaking.

"It.. It came through with the demon… He had it in his mouth… Is it worth an A?"

Dipper sighed and looked down at the stone. "Grunkle Ford?"

"I'll take care of him… I'll talk to the dean. Go work on translating."

"Right." Dipper didn't even look up as he headed towards the door. He started comparing the two pieces in his head. The two pieces didn't fit together but he was sure they were from the same tablet. And he was going to work on finishing the translation.

21-23-10 25-9-3 4-6-23-10-5-12-23-4-19 4-16-19 5-4-9-10-19?

Want to see what the second piece of the puzzle looks like? CHeck out this page- art/Gravity-Falls-Puzzle-Pieces-1-and-2-642401312?ga_submit_new=10%253A1477541500


	13. Chapter 13

_**A**_ Dipper yawned as he rolled out of bed. He stretched his arms above his head and flinched as his fingers slammed into the bunk above him. Oh yeah. Dipper thought. I slept over at the Grunkle's house. He slipped out of bed and headed to the next room. He didn't want to wake Mabel up where she slept on the top bunk. He grabbed his notebook and the tablet pieces before heading to the kitchen. He set the two on the table and then sat down and started to work on his translating again. It was going slowly, way too slowly.

 _ **T**_ "Hey there kiddo."

 _ **B**_ Dipper almost jumped but he had gained a familiarity with Grunkle Stan's voice. He turned and did jump. "You look awful."

 _ **A**_ "Eh." Stan shrugged and sipped at his coffee. "I feel awful."

 _ **S**_ "Why?" Dipper frowned.

 _ **H**_ "I just…" Stan sighed and sat down. "I haven't been sleeping so great these last couple days." He rubbed his neck and sighed. "Nightmares… Way too many nightmares."

"ABout what?" They both looked over to see Ford walking in. He took a mug out of the counter and poured himself some coffee before sitting down next to Dipper and Stan.

"Thing is I can't even remember." Stan sighed and rubbed his face. "All I know is I haven't been able to sleep for the past couple days, no matter how much I tried to." he took another sip of coffee and sighed. "Everytime I close my eyes and try to sleep…. Ugh is this some kind of demon cursing me or something?"

Dipper and Ford looked at each other. They both frowned. "Grunkle Stan did you do something to trigger this?"

"I don't know." Stan rubbed his face. "I just want to sleep."

"Then why don't you go to bed?" Mabel asked walking in.

"He can't." Dipper looked at his twin. "He seems to think it is a demon or something."

"What?" Mabel gasped. "Grunkle Stan what's wrong?!"

"Maybe we should test it out." Ford stood up. "Come on I have an idea." They all looked at him and then followed him down towards his lab. Ford began to pull things out of different boxes and random shaped containers. "Here we go!" He set what looked like candles and odd shaped bowls and other plants. "Let's go." He said.

"Where?" Dipper asked picking up what looked like seaweed, only blue.

"Back upstairs. Dipper Mabel helped me bring all this up."

Stan sighed and headed back towards the living room. "You're crazy poindexter."

A few minutes later they were all sitting in the living room while Ford mixed the ingredients together. He set the bowls out around them. "Alright lay down Stan."

"What are we doing now?" Stan asked.

"Going into your mind." Ford said.

"What?" They all looked at the genius. "How are we going to do that?"

"An old recipe." Ford chuckled. "Drink this Stan." Ford handed the first bowl to Stan. "This will allow you to be conscious and walk us through your mind and memories. We'll follow you through."

"How?" Mabel asked.

"I've got it." Ford smiled. "Now come on."

"Alright, I guess if it helps." Stan sighed and took the bowl. He took a deep swing and then started to cough. "That tastes-." He yawned and then laid down on the couch.

"Now then." Ford pulled out a match and lit the candles. "He set the candles in front of them. "Okay kids get ready."

Dipper looked at Mabel and then nodded. The two watched the flames of the candles. They sparked for a moment and then glowed blue. Dipper was beginning to wonder what the plan was and what to expect when he felt a buzz in his chest and then everything glowed bright and he was standing in the middle of the forest. Stan, Ford, and Mabel stood next to him.

"What is going on?" Mabel asked looking around.

"It worked." Ford grinned. "Now then, let's see… Stanley this is your mind so you'll have to lead the way."

"Right…" Stan looked around. "This way." He started walking and a moment later they were standing in front of a door. It had a black frame with pink highlights twirling throughout it. Strange symbols were etched into the door's wood. Dipper didn't recognize any of them… No wait yes he did. They were the same kinds of symbols as the tablet. "What is this?"

"No idea kid." Stan reached out and opened the door. "But this feels familiar." Inside the door was a black shadowy haze. Stan led the way in.

A moment later they found themselves staring at an old village, like way old beginning of human history old. Dipper glanced around. "It looks like we're still in Gravity-." He was cut off as a boy ran past. The boy appeared to be about thirteen and he wore animal skin clothing. "-falls."

"Yeah, maybe back before all the good stuff." Stan grumbled.

"Come on let's follow him." Mabel started to run after the boy.

"Alright." Ford sighed but they all followed. They watched as the boy gathered up some flowers and approached a girl. He began to speak in a language Dipper didn't recognize. But even as he started to get annoyed the boy's voice changed. He slowly started to speak in english, or more specifically Dipper began to hear the boy's voice in english.

"⍈⇎⇚↗↟↳↹⇖ lake with me."

"I already have plans Little Sparrow." The girl barely glanced at him. "Strong Deer is going to show me his latest kill. He does so much for the village."

"I see." The boy, Little Sparrow, watched her leave and seemed to slump in a sulk.

"Why are we watching this kid get rejected?" Stan grumbled.

"These are your dreams." Ford pointed out. "Are these your feelings?"

"Ah shut up Poindexter." Stan moved to follow Little Sparrow. The young man walked through the forest slowly.

"Is it just me or is there no strange things in this forest?" Dipper asked.

"You're right." Ford glanced around. "How strange."

"Talk about strange the kids heading into a cave up there." Stan pointed.

"Come on." Mabel jogged ahead after Little Sparrow.

"She's way to energetic." She sighed but followed. They walked into the save and followed Little Sparrow, who began to paint on the wall. They were simple pictures of people but for some reason Dipper felt the style was familiar. After a few minutes Little Sparrow yelled out and threw his paint brush across the way. It slammed into the wall and then rolled away into the darkness.

"Poor kid." Stan whispered as they watched the boy walk towards the paint brush.

Dipper and the others froze as they ehad a hiss and then a soft voice. "Is someone there?"

"What?" Little Sparrow jumped slightly and then inched forward. "Hello?"

"Finally." The soft voice continued. A small red light glowed from the wall highlighted a crack. "Please help. We're trapped in here."

"Who are you?" Little Sparrow moved closer.

"A friend. Please you need to widen the crack."

"Why should I?" LIttle Sparrow asked.

It was silent for a moment and then the voice spoke. "I can give you a reward. I'll give you the power to impress others."

Little Sparrow's eyes widened. "Deal!" He began to scratch at the wall using a stone from the ground. Slowly the crack widened and the red light glowed stronger. After the crack widened to the size of a soccer ball the light flickered and something fell out. Little Sparrow stumbled back and then looked down at the gnome. "What are you?" Little Sparrow asked.

"Shmebulock the second." The gnome said.

Dipper looked at his family in shock.

"Ignore the gnome, you are almost there." The voice said, sounding harsher… and kind of familiar. "You're almost there."

Little Sparrow looked at Shmebulock the second and then began to scrap at the growing hole again. It slowly got bigger and then Little Sparrow stumbled back again as the light flared. And then Bill was standing there.

"Bill!" Ford glared.

"Thanks there buddie." Bill laughed and held out his hand. "Now for your reward!"

Little Sparrow held out his hand hesitantly and shook. As Bill's hand lit up with blue flames Little Sparrow's eyes flashed multiple colors. As his eyes flashed the hole grow bigger and a flood of creatures seemed to stumble out.

"This is the beginning of the weirdness." Little Sparrow whispered. "I see more coming into this world in the future…"

And then everything went dark. "What was that?" Dipper gasped.

"It seems like Bill was the true start of the weirdness of Gravity Falls." Ford looked at Stan. "Why are you dreaming about all this?"

"No idea." Stan frowned. "Hang on… This looks familiar." Their surroundings slowly came into focus."

Dipper looked around. "There are a bunch of machines."

"Is this…" Stand whispered and then a person came into view. A younger version of Stan. He was eating a bag of chips.

The younger Stan walked up to a machine and dropped his bag of chips. "This is all your fault you dumb machine!" He slammed his fist down on the table with the machine. It started to smoke and a small grate on it fell off. "Oh no. No No No. What did I do?" Stan picked up the small grate and stuck it back in place. It stopped smoking and began to move again. "Alright there. Good as new." He relaxed and stood up straight again. "Probably." He picked up a curtain and placed it over the machine so no one could see it and then tip toed out.

The four Pines stared at the working machine. Ford took a step towards it but then there was a noise. They turned as the door opened and Blendin walked in. Dipper and Mabel were the only two who knew him so Dipper spoke up. "Blendin? He's a time traveler, what is he doing here?"

"Time traveler?" Ford whispered.

"Let's see." Blendin pulled out a piece of folded up paper. "I need to break the machine called… Perpetual motion…"

"What?" Stan yelled.

Blending looked over the machines and then walked up to the machine Stan had just fixed. He reached out and tried to pull the machine apart but struggled. He tried to hold the parts to keep them from moving. "Darn it." Blendin cursed. "That Little Sparrow could have left a note on how to break this contraption if he wanted it broken correctly!" Blending kicked the table leg and the machine rattled. The little grate shook slightly and Blending grinned. He tugged the grate off and the machine stopped moving and collapsed, smoking slightly. "There!" Blendin nodded. "I really don't know why that old prophet wants all this done, but whatever." He turned and left the room as well.

Ford looked at the machine he had made so long ago. "Stan-." The ground shook and they were back in the cave. Ford gasped. A man was looking at the wheel for defeating Bill. As Dipper looked closer he realized that the man was Little Sparrow. He appeared to be in his early forties now.

"Little Sparrow!" A girl came running in. "Little Sparrow! The villagers need your wisdom"

"So does the world." Little Sparrow's voice was so much deeper. "I can only hope that the future I see can be changed."

The girl looked at the wheel. "Didn't you draw this many moons ago?"

"I drew this shortly after I got my gift. It was the only message I could think of to save the valley."

"Did i work?" The girl asked.

"From what I could see yes. The future is constantly changing. There are so many paths. I have left clues and messages and so far I can see it worked, but now there is something worse coming. It is my fault." He whispered the last line.

"Little Sparrow?"

"I released the crack and now there is no way to seal it back up."

"So what are we going to do?" The girl asked.

"I'll leave another code."

Dipper froze as he watched Little Sparrow held up a stone tablet with symbols and signs covering it. He tried to get a good look but he couldn't.

"Is that wise?" The girl asked.

"It is all I can do." He sighed and then touched a stone on the wall. A crack appeared near by them and then a door opened in the wall.

The girl gasped. "How… What kind of magic?!"

"No future technology." Little Sparrow laughed. His eyes flashed with multiple colors and he gasped, leaning against the wall. He groaned.

"Little Sparrow?"

"I'm fine." He gasped. "Just another vision… I need to… I need to make sure a boy ends up in our valley…"

"What?"

"A young man… He will be key to all this… He is needed… but without the right push…" Little Sparrow sighed. "I feel sorry for him and the one who shares his face… But they are needed…. For both darknesses." He rubbed his face. "I am a horrible person." LIttle Sparrow started to walk towards the door with the tablet. A wind blew through and a moment later things seemed to change.

"What is going on?" Mabel asked.

"Another dream…" Ford whispered. "Watch." A moment later an old man, somewhere in his eighties, came walking in. He collapsed against the wall and groaned.

"All for nothing." He groaned. He weakly chuckled. "All for nothing…"

"Hello there Prophet." They all looked over with the old man as a large lizard like creature came into the cave.

"What are…" The old man stopped and smiled. "Wait I've seen you before... Axolotal."

"Hello Prophet." The lizard said in a soft voice. "I've come to tell you that everything will work out. I will watch this place."

"Of course you will." The prophet chuckled weakly. "None of the weirdness can leave the bubble anymore." He coughed weakly. "I put up a barrier as soon as that demon came back in… But I see it breaking… All because of that…" He shook his head. "And now the tablet is broken so not even that can help. That child… He choose to break it and scatter it… If only I had been younger."

"Don't worry about that." The Axolotal came closer. "Just rest. Your work is done."

"I can rest?" The prophet closed his eyes.

"Rest Little Sparrow, and don't worry your mess will be cleaned."

The prophet, Little Sparrow, let out a soft sigh and then faded.

"He saw many paths, but things have changed." Axolotal turned and looked at them.

"You can see us?" Ford asked.

"I thought this was a dream?" Mabel asked.

"It is. A dream I gave to you Stanley Pines. A warning. That tablet you need to find it so you can solve the darkness that is coming."

"Can't you just tell us?" Dipper asked.

"No. Only humans can read the tablet. That is part of why it was split… But you already have two pieces… You must find the rest…. If you don't it will all turn into dust."

"How can we?" Ford stepped forward. "And why are you showing this to my brother?"

"Because he and I are connected." Axolotal looked at Stan. "You took care of one of my offspring for many years. Thank you for that… You must lead the rest of your family to success." Everything began to fuzz. "And don't worry. You will be able to sleep again."

THey all jolted awake.

"So…" Stan whispered. "Are we going to talk about this?"

"Maybe we should go check the cave." Dipper said. He stood up.

It took them a while but soon they were at the cave. The wheel meant to defeat Bill was still on the wall, a little more faded than last time, but still there. "Where was that key hole?" San muttered and began to feel along the wall. He pushed and the door slid open.

"There we go." Ford walked in first and they found a small pedestal with a piece of the stone tablet on it.

"Another piece!" Dipper rushed up and grabbed it. "This is great… Though I'm not sure how it connects to the others."

"Hang on." Ford took the tablet from Dipper. "I know this word." He pointed to the first line of the stone tablet. "Axolotals."

"What?" Dipper took the tablet back. "This says Axolotals?"

"Yes. I saw it once before while traveling through the dimension."

"So we're one step closer to translating it all." Mabel looked over Dipper's shoulder.

"Right! Let's go home!" Dipper grinned. "I need to get started on this now."

"So Stan…" Ford said as he walked up to his brother. It was now just the two of them at the house. The kids had left already. "We need to talk."

"What about?" Stan asked from where he was cooking dinner. "Anything to do with that Axolotal?"

"No." Ford sighed. "I'm sorry Stan."

Stanley Pines froze as he heard his brother say some words that he almost never did. "What?"

"I'm sorry Stan. It wasn't your fault with everything that happened… I'm sorry."

"Well finally Poindexter." Stan laughed and shoved at his twin's shoulder. "But don't worry… It was apparently needed so I don't blame you. Now come on let's eat… Oh and I'm glad we're together in this."

"Yeah… Me too." Ford smiled. "Me too Stanley."

"High six?" Stan smiled.

Ford chuckled. "High six." The two high fived.

R ivzoob olev gsv Krmvh uznrob.


	14. Chapter 14

Dipper waved as he spotted Bree. She was laying out on the grass with a couple books spread out around her. "Hey."

"Don't talk to me!" She yelled at him. Dipper flinched back and then smiled. Now that he focused he could recognize mathematical equations Bree was chanting under her breath. "X squared plus one in parenthesis. Times x minus three. Equals… What was it…"

 **A** Dipper chuckled to himself and kept walking. He was glad he was done with classes for the day, and he didn't even have any tests of any sort. Poor Mabel had a big project due today and a big test. She wouldn't be home until late. Which was fine with Dipper. He had plans himself. He and Ford were going to figure out the code. He walked into Ford's lab and found Ford digging through a bag. "Hey Grunkle Ford."

 **T** "Dipper." Ford stood up and smiled. "Good to see you. Did you bring the stones?"

 **B** "Yeah." Dipper pulled the three stones and laid them out. Then he pulled out his notebook with his notes and put it down next to the stone. "Okay let's get-."

 **A** "Hang on Dipper." Ford grinned as he pulled out a pen. "Got it."

 **S** "What?"

 **H** "This pen I designed to transfer to the board so we can see a larger representation. Plus we can put the letters over the symbol on a picture of the tablets."

 **T** "That's great!" Dipper grinned. "Let's get started!"

 **H** Ford laughed and together they lined up the stone pieces as best as they could.

▲⸎▼⸎▲⸎▼⸎▲⸎▼⸎▲⸎▼⸎

 **E** Outside the lab two eyes sat and watched the two Pines. Two eyes that blinked sideways. Two eyes that were hidden in the tree. The eyes moved back into hiding among the leaves to wait.

⸙‽ **Ӝ** ⸙‽ **Ӝ** ⸙‽ **Ӝ**

 **N** Dipper frowned as he looked at the tablet. The only full word they had was the first word- Axolotals. And that was only because Ford had figured it out during Stan's vision dreams. "Any ideas?" Dipper asked stepping back to observe their word.

 **C** "Axolotals, blank, symbol, la, symbol, e, symbol." Ford sighed. "This would be so much easier if we had more pieces.

 **A** "Dipper scanned the board. "We almost finished the first word on line five."

 **E** "Symbol, et." Ford rubbed his chin. "Followed by eas." He sighed. "Those two words have the same symbol."

 **S** Dipper pulled out his notebook and wrote both words. "Let see if we can think of some three letter words that are.. Hang on." Dipper stood up. "Look at line nine."

 **A** Ford followed Dipper's instructions. "Symbol, symbol, t, symbol, l, space. T, symbol, e, space, s." Ford read what they had. "I don't… Wait." He walked up closer. "T mystery e." Ford smiled. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

 **R** "The!" Dipper grinned.

Ford nodded. "The only words that would fit are the, tae, teg, tie, or toe. It can't be toe or tae thought because we already know a and o. I guess it could be tie but most things I have read has the word the at least once."

Dipper nodded. "I think so too. Let's see it that changes anything."

Ford nodded and began to fill in h's where the symbol was. "Seven total."

"It didn't change much." Dipper took a step back. "Let's see…"

"Dipper!"

Both Dipper and Ford jumped as a voice yelled out and the door slammed open. "Mabel?" Dipper looked over at his sister. "I thought you had a test."

"I finished!"

Dipper checked his watch. "In an hour?"

"It wasn't that hard. So whatcha doing?" Mabel moved closer to the screen.

"We're getting closer to decoding the tablet… If only we had the rest of the stone pieces."

"I'm sure you'll be able to find them soon Ford." Mabel smiled.

Dipper glanced at the screen and then froze. "What did you say Mabel?"

"Just that I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out. Ford is a genius."

"You're not Mabel!" Dipper moved away from her.

"What are you talking about?" Mabel blinked, but it was side ways. Then she got a cruel grin. "What gave me away? I thought I did a good job."

"Mabel says Grunkle Ford!" Dipper moved closer to Ford slowly. "Who are you?!" Dipper could feel Ford tense next to him.

The fake Mabel grinned darkly. "What you don't remember me?" Mabel's body shifted until a young Dipper stood there.

"You!" Dipper gasped. "The shapeshifter!"

"What?" Ford jumped. "That shouldn't be possible!"

"Why? Because you sealed me down in that bunker?" The Shifter growled. "Or because Dipper had froze me?!"

"You got it into the cryo freezer?" Ford smiled. "I'm impressed.'

"SHUT UP!" The Shifter yelled.

"How did you get out?" Dipper growled.

"I had help." The Shifter smirked. "And now I will have my revenge!"

"I'm not a kid anymore! You can't beat us so easily!"

"You think so?" As the Shifter spoke he changed, until he looked like Wendy's dad. "I was worried about that until I saw this specimen talking to your girlfriend."

Dipper frowned. "Wendy's not my girlfriend!"

"No?" The Shifter tilted its head slightly. An odd gesture for the large lumberjack body it was using.

"No!" Dipper tensed. "And there is no way you can kill us."

"Who said anything about killing?" The Shifter moved with more agility than should have been possible. Dipper gasped as a fist met his stomach, and then it all went dark.

∆ **§∆§∆§∆§∆§∆§**

Bree rubbed her eyes as she woke up to her phone beeping. She rolled out of bed and groaned. "What idiot is texting me so early?" She picked up the phone.

Gone for a few days. On a trip. Be back soon. Ford.

"Really?" Bree groaned. But now that she was up there was no going back to sleep. Unfortunately it took her forever to fall asleep and by the time. If she did it would be time to get up anyways. Bree finished getting ready quickly and then she left her apartment and headed off in search of breakfast in the school cafeteria. She grabbed a yogurt parfait and found a seat by herself. She glanced around to see the groups of college students laughing and talking. Bree glanced at the seats around her but froze as a memory floated back to her.

 _Freak. Get out of here weirdo! Why would we want to play with you!_

Bree shook her head and went back to eating. She wasn't going to open that can of worms again. She had learned her lesson long ago. As Bree thought that and finished eating she spotted Dipper. She sat up slightly. Dipper… The one person who's mind scape she would never invade. She didn't want to ruin that relationship. He was really her first friend since… Bree's thoughts were jerked away as Dipper skipped over to her.

"Hey!" He grinned at her.

"Hey Dipper. Listen I know Ford's gone for a couple days, so do we want to-." She was interrupted by Dipper leaning in and kissing her.

Bree froze in shock. She wasn't sure how she should feel. Only… annoyance right now. Why would he ruin their friendship like that! She pushed away from him. "Dipper!" But his eyes weren't on her. His eyes were directed towards the red haired woman, Wendy.

"See ya." Dipper started to head out of the cafeteria.

"Dipper?" Bree felt her heart crack slightly. Am I just a tool to him? A voice deep in her memory whispered to her.

" _Just like everyone else. I'm your only friend. Everyone else will just throw you away. You don't need anyone else but me Ice."_

Bree shook her head slightly and then stood up. "Forget him." Bree whispered to herself and headed out of the cafeteria. She could see Dipper and Wendy talking a bit away. A bit of rage boiled in her chest, but it was mostly sorrow. "This is why you shouldn't let people in." Bree whispered to herself as she fingered the necklace around her neck. The one she always wore… at least since she was ten years old when she had made it. "They always hurt you."

Bree shoved away the pain as she headed towards the library. She needed to study… She needed to get her mind off of everything. Right as she was opening the door she slammed into someone. "Ouch."

"Sorry! Oh Bree! Hey!"

Bree looked up, from where she had fallen, to see Mabel. The pinch of pain echoed in her chest. "Hey Mabel." Looking at Dipper's twin just reminded Bree of the betrayal she felt from her once friend.

"Hey Bree have you seen Dipper recently?" Mabel asked as she helped Bree up.

"Yeah…" Bree shifted. Had Mabel seen? She wanted to keep at least one of the twin's friendship if possible… Unless Mabel threw her away as well. "He's talking to Wendy right now."

"Oh thank goodness." Mabel sighed. She looked honestly relieved.

"What's wrong?" Bree shifted.

"Well Dipper wasn't home last night when I finished my test and when I tried calling him he didn't answer. And Grunkle Stan said he hadn't seen Dipper or Grunkle Ford either."

"I got a text from Ford. He said he was going on a short trip." Bree pulled out her phone and showed it to Mabel.

"That doesn't look like a text from Grunkle Ford." Mabel frowned. Usually his texts are a lot longer and more scientific terms are there. I've never seen such a short text from Grunkle Ford."

Now that Bree thought about it Mabel was right. She had never seen a short text from Ford. Most of his texts had instructions as well for her to work on with TAing. In fact now that she really thought about it Ford should have texted what she and Dipper needed to do while he was gone for the class and how to grade stuff. "I just saw Dipper. He… He was acting a little strange."

"Dipper…" Mabel whispered. "Let's go!" Mabel grabbed Bree's arm and they started running.

Bree allowed herself to be dragged along but she wasn't sure how she really felt. Dipper… He still did all that… it doesn't change the fact… Dipper is Dipper…

The two stopped as they noticed Dipper and Wendy heading to a car together. "That's Grunkle Ford's car." Mabel whispered. "What are they doing?... Let's follow!" Mabel dragged Bree towards her own car.

Why am I doing this? Bree climbed into the passenger seat and watched as Mabel followed Dipper and Wendy. She wanted to say something but she couldn't. Bree just wanted to go back home and do something besides think about Dipper and what he had done.

"Where are they going?" Mabel whispered as Dipper drove further away from people and civilization.

"Don't drive so close if you don't want him to know you're following him." Bree whispered.

"Alright." Mabel slowed down a little. And then they came to a stop after a little seeing Dipper pull off. "Hang on I know this place." Mabel whispered. "This is where the alien spaceship is."

"You're right." Bree whispered. "Maybe-." She stopped talking as she saw a person walk out of the car. It wasn't Dipper or Wendy. It was Ford.

"Grunkle Ford?" Mabel whispered.

Ford walked around to the passenger side of the car and pulled an unconscious Wendy out. He threw her over his shoulder and then pulled up the secret top door. Then he started to walk down the passageway.

"What is going on?" Bree whispered.

"I don't know." Mabel sat silently. "THis is all too weird." A moment later Ford came walking back out and climbed back into the car and started to drive off. Once the car was out of sight Mabel climbed out of the car. "Come on!"

"What?" Bree gasped.

"We need to figure out what is going on! Come on!" Mabel rushed towards the trap door. Bree stood silently for a moment before following. The two then climbed down the ladder and opened the inside hatch. They walked for a few minutes before they heard voices.

"WHat are we going to do? There has to be some way to get out."

"DIPPER!" Mabel yelled and rushed towards the voice.

DIpper… Bree followed a little slower and they arrived at a large door construct. Mabel was already standing at the door and trying to open it.

"DIPPER!" Mabel yelled as she tried to open it. "DIPPER!"

"Mabel is that you?" Dipper's voice called out. "What are you doing here? How did you find us?"

"Us?" Bree asked.

"Bree?" Dipper sounded happy… normal. "You're here too!"

"Yeah." Bree whispered. "How long have you been trapped in there?"

"Since last night." Ford's voice came from the other side of the door. "We've been here for almost ten hours."

"Ten hours." Bree whispered. So it wasn't Dipper. Relief flooded Bree more than she thought it would. "How can we get you out?"

"I'm not sure." Ford said. "There might be a knob or a button out there that will work."

Bree and Mabel instantly got to work looking. "So what is going on?" Mabel asked.

"The shapeshifter." Dipper said. "Some how it got out of the cryo freeze. It captured us last night and brought us here. It said it wants revenge."

"What did you do to it?" Bree asked. She stopped as she spotted a small button. "Got it!" She pushed it and the door swung open. She looked over to see Dipper, Ford, and an unconscious Wendy. Relief flooded her chest. "Hey."

"Thanks." Dipper smiled. He lifted Wendy onto his back. "Now we need to go catch the Shapeshifter. We need to find someway to imprison it."

"That will be difficult." Ford sighed. "We would need a cryo freezer."

"Maybe we could make one here." Bree said. She looked at Dipper and then looked around. "There's lots of stuff here and you two are smart enough I'm sure you could make something that works."

"Right. Let's get to work!" Ford said.

For the next couple hours Dipper and the others worked together. They managed to make a makeshift cryo freezer. Dipper glanced over as Bree connected wires as Ford directed. She hadn't really looked at Dipper since they had started all this. "Hey Bree." He called.

She looked at him and then looked back at what she was doing. "Hey… I'm glad your alright."

Dipper chuckled and then went back to working on his part. She's really strange sometimes. Before he could say anything else he heard a noise. He waved his hand and everyone moved back into position. THey all crouched low behind barriers in the large room. Dipper just hoped that their plan worked.

A moment later the Shifter came walking in, looking like Dipper. "Where are you?"

Dipper waved a hand towards the others and they all nodded.

Ford moved first. He stepped out from behind his barrier. "How did you escape?" Ford asked. "That cryo freeze should have kept you frozen!"

"It would have, but a good friend helped me." The Shifter grinned. "But it doesn't matter for you. Because I'm going to kill you all now. All those that I want my revenge on!" It laughed. "The three kids who sealed me in the cryo and the father who abandoned me."

"You became crazed! I had to!" Ford growled. "And we will seal you again. NOW!"

Bree and Mabel jumped out next. Both had canisters. They began to spray the condensed air at the Shifter. It backed up slowly and roared out angrily. Dipper waited… and waited… and then he pulled. A small string trap waited and the Shifter tripped. They had set it up so he fell into the makeshift Cryo freezer.

"NO!" The Shifter reached up and it's clawed like hand tore at the metal above it.

"HIT IT!" Dipper yelled. He didn't see who hit the button but the makeshift Cryo freezer roared to life and began to freeze the Shifter. It took longer than Dipper had thought but soon the Shifter was a frozen block.

"We did it." Ford sighed. "Come on, let's seal it up… just in case." The group worked together to move Shifter into a large room that had nothing in it and large strong doors.

Dipper stepped back to look at the Shifter. It appeared in a mish mashed form between Dipper and the Shifter's true form. It sent shivers down Dipper's back. He took a step back and then slipped.

"Dipper!" Mabel rushed over to help him up. "You okay?"

"I'm-." Dipper froze. Poking up from a loose metal plate was a small stone block. "HEY!" He pulled it up and looked down at the slightly oddly shaped stone piece. Familiar symbols decorated the stone. "GRUNKLE FORD!"

"Another piece!" Ford grinned. "At least something good came of all this."

"Well if we're all done here." Bree started to walk towards the exit of the ship. "I'm going to go home… Mabel you mind giving me a lift back? I don't particularly want to walk through the forest by myself." She glanced at the Shifter.

"Sure… I'll see you at home right Dipper…"

"Yeah." Dipper smiled. He watched as the two girls left and then glanced down at the stone tablet. And then Wendy, who was still unconscious over in a corner. "I guess we should take Wendy home too."

"Right… And then we can get to work on adding this to our translations." Ford started to head towards the door.

Dipper picked Wendy up and started to carry her. He smiled to himself. He remembered as a kid he had wanted to carry her and kiss her, but now he didn't care as much. He chuckled, if his old self could see himself. He couldn't help but laugh slightly. But also he needed a good laugh to get the Shifter out of his mind.

Cpz jvy Kvuxjyl gck pyhyl kyyp cwcup.


	15. Chapter 15

Dipper glanced up at the clock on the wall, begging for class to be over. He had almost ditched his class so he could continue working on the translating of the tablet. But unfortunately he had to go to his classes. Whatever the stone tablet said it could wait, no matter how impatient he was. He drummed his fingers on his lap and then his teacher, a woman known as Miss Alberts, talked. She was one of the most boring teachers he had, and right now he really couldn't focus.

 **V** "Alright that's it for today." Miss Alberts said.

 **I** Dipper grabbed his bag and hurried out. He hurried down the hallway and gasped as he slammed into someone and fell back on his butt. "Ow." He groaned.

 **G** "What's the rush?" A hand reached out and Dipper looked up. He was surprised to see a familiar hoodie jacket.

 **E** "Robbie?" Dipper asked. It was only then that he noticed the two year old in Robbie's other arm. "What are you doing here?"

 **N** "I'm visiting my family." He helped pull Dipper up. "Are you really old enough to be here now?" Robbie smiled. "I thought you had another year left of high school."

 **E** Dipper smiled. "And I thought you moved away from Gravity Falls with Tambry."

 **R** "We did." Robbie said as he rocked the little girl, who looked a lot like Robbie. "We had enough of all the crazy stuff that happens here, but it's my mom's birthday this weekend." He sighed. "So of course we had to come. Tambry and I came to say hi to Wendy, Nate and Thompson. We're all heading out actually to hang out tonight and mess with Thompson on old times." He laughed. "You should come."

 **E** "Thanks for the invite, but I actually have a lot to do." Dipper thought of the tablet.

 **R** Oh come on." Robbie smirked. "You can take a break from studying. Take it from your elder."

 **E** "Well… I guess…." Dipper glanced at his backpack. "I can come for a little."

"Sweet." Robbie grinned. "See you later kid." He slapped Dipper on the back with one hand before heading off.

Dipper glanced after Robbie and then sighed. There went his plans to decipher the code. He shook his head, he had too much homework to take care of. He started walking back towards his apartment. He had so much homework to work on before he even thought about trying to decipher more.

 **Real** A few hours later Dipper was arriving at the graveyard, where apparently Robbie had decided would be the best place to meet up.

 **vampires** "Hey Dipper!" Wendy waved her hand. "Mabel!"

 **dont** "Hey!" Mabel had decided to tag along as well, after Dipper had told her what was going on. "How's that baby girl of yours?"

 **sparkle** "She's good. Tambry answered. "Robbie's parents are looking after her while we are out." She looked over her shoulder. "Hey Thompson you done yet?"

It was only then that Dipper noticed that Thompson was digging a hole. "What's he doing over there?"

"I heard this legend of an underground secret base." Wendy said. "Apparently there is some buried treasure of something down there so we're planning on checking it out." She smirked. "Thompson is digging up where we think the base is at."

"Sounds fun!" Mabel said. "I'll help!" She jumped down and picked up another shovel.

"Really you aren't gonna let Thompson dig on his own?" Lee laughed from where he was leaning against a gravestone. "You're too nice sometimes Mabel."

"Come on guys we're not teenagers anymore." Mabel said as she dug. "We should be nicer to Thompson."

"It's fine Mabel." Thompson said. "Everything they did has made me stronger in the long run."

"You're really a great guy Thompson." Dipper laughed. "I'll help too." Dipper jumped down and helped dig as well. It didn't take long with the three of them digging to find a door deep underground.

"Who would bury a secret treasure in a graveyard?" Dipper asked as he rubbed his forehead, he was sweating so much. He kind of wanted to laugh, his younger self would have loved trying to impress Wendy with his strength and skills. But now he didn't care about that. Now he wanted to finish up quickly and then head back home to go back to translating.

"Well let's go!" Robbie said, his arms wrapped around his wife's shoulders. "If we can find this treasure then we won't have to worry about student loans anymore."

"Right!" Dipper looked at the door. "Let's see what we can find." He pushed on the door and a loud crack sounded as it swung inward. Dipper went stumbling into a dark dusty spider web filled hallway.

"Wow, look at this place." Robbie said as he walked in. "Anyone bring flashlights."

"I got us!" Wendy waved a couple flashlights around and passed them around. "Let's go find that treasure!"

"Yeah!" Lee and Thompson said at the same time. And the group headed down the pathway. Dipper and Mabel walked in the middle of the group. Dipper found himself looking around. He stopped though as he noticed something on a wall.

"Hang on!" He said.

"What?" Robbie stopped and looked over his shoulders.

"I want to check something out."

"Okay." Robbie tossed Dipper a flashlight. "Catch up as soon as you can."

"Dipper?" Mabel asked as she followed him towards the wall. He looked up at the wall. There were words carved on the wall. "Beware, do not enter." Dipper whispered. Under the faded words was an even more faded set of symbols. "Hang on!" Dipper said as he recognized the symbols. "These are on the stone tablet! B!" He pointed to one of the least faded symbol. "And W."

"The rest are too faded." Mabel whispered as she looked up at the symbols. "Maybe we should-."

"Hang on." Dipper froze. He quickly took a picture of the wall. "Why would it say Beware?" He frowned. "We might want to go-." DIpper was interrupted by a scream.

"That was Thompson!" Mabel said and started running towards the scream. Dipper followed as well. About halfway towards the TELL they ran into Lee and Tamary, who were running towards them.

"What happened?" Dipper asked.

"V-vampires!" Lee yelled as he kept running.

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other and then ran towards where the supposed Vampires were. They arrived at the room and froze. Thompson was curled up in a ball behind Robbie who was swinging a large stick of wood at two figures. They wore dark robes with the hoods pulled up but Dipper could see pale wrinkly hands poking out of the sleeves towards Robbie.

"Those are vampires?" Mabel gasped. Her voice made one of the vampires turn and look towards her, with cold red eyes.

"Those are vampires!" Dipper started to fumble around in his bag as the vampire advanced towards them. I need a weapon! Something to fight these creatures! Dipper dug around franticly. He had only brought his notebooks and, wait Mabel's old grappling hook? He looked at her as he pulled it out slowly. Before he could ask any questions Mabel grabbed it from him and shot it up, grabbing Dipper and pulling him up with her. The vampire lunged towards the twins but wasn't able to reach it as they were pulled up.

"I knew it was a good idea to bring along the grappling hook!" Mabel grinned at him. "But now what?"

"I didn't bring anything to use against them." Dipper looked down at the vampire as it jumped up and down swinging it's claws at them.

"Has Grunkle Ford said anything about vampires?"

"I don't think so." Dipper pulled his legs up a little. He could see Robbie was still fending off his own vampires. "But we've got to do something…" He thought for a minute. "I've got an idea!"

"What?" Mabel asked.

"Swing me." Dipper started to swing slightly. "Get ready!" He waited a moment and then let got of Mabel and went swinging right into the vampires attacking Robbie. "RUN!"

"Right!" Robbie pulled Thompson up and started to run. Dipper watched as Mabel dropped to the ground while the vampire turned to face Dipper.

"DIPPER!" Mabel slammed into the vampire, knocking it off it's feet. "RUN!"

Dipper took off, jumping over the vampire Mabel had knocked down. He started running. "What is going on? These vampires are really slow? I wonder if all of them are this slow?" A hand snatched out and wrapped around Dipper's ankle, pulling him down.

"DIPPER!" Mabel yelled out.

Dipper felt a chill as the vampire rose over him. It's fangs seemed to spark in the light. Light?

"DIPPER!" A stick of wood hit the vampire and Dipper went running with Robbie leading the way. The two burst out of the entrance and the girls slammed the door behind them. They all leaned up against the doorway.

"What do we do?" Wendy was breathing heavily.

"Robbie?" Tambry moved towards her husband. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He was breathing heavily. "Dipper?"

Dipper thought for a moment. "Lock it up! We need something heavy to block the door."

"Got it!" Mabel said. After a few moments they had stuff blocking the door and they all moved away.

"I think we should rebury it." Dipper frowned.

"But what about the rest of it?" Robbie asked. "What if they get out? What if there are more?"

"And the treasure?" Tambry asked.

"We'll have to give up on it." Dipper grabbed a shovel. "Come on, let's rebury it and we can figure it all out later."

A few hours later Dipper was returning home. He sighed. He was both physically exhausted as well as mentally exhausted. He collapsed onto his bed, with Mabel coming in right behind him.

"That was one crazy day." Mabel sighed from her bed. "Vampires… I always thought they would be different."

"I don't want to talk about it…. At least right now." Dipper sighed. He closed his eyes. "I'm just going to sleep."

Z hoy'o bqaqvzw Ucouat ij k Gedticz, bgi Q jxaoz jtfieu flqgmrpn.


	16. Chapter 16

Dipper rolled over in his bed and groaned. His head was hurting slightly. He sat up and glanced over. Mabel was bundled up under her own blankets, still asleep. Dipper stretched out his arms and jumped out of bed, strangely he felt a little shorter. Dipper just shrugged, he must be tired. He walked into the bathroom and turned on the light walking towards the sink. He froze as he looked at the mirror. "MABEL!" He yelled.

 **C** He rushed back into their room, almost tripping over his pants. "Huh?" An old woman sat up in Mabel's bed, rubbing her eyes. "What is it Dipper?"

 **A** The two looked at each other and both gasped at the same time. "What?!" They said in sync. "Look at yourself!" They said together.

 **E** "What could have happened?" Dipper looked down at himself. He looked like his almost teenage self. Mabel looked like she had aged to an old woman. "Did you eat something weird? What do you think happened?"

 **S** "No idea. I'll call Grunkle Ford." Mabel reached over and picked up her cell phone.

 **A** Dipper frowned as they waited for the phone to be answered. After a moment Stan answered. "Hey Mabel, did you need something?"

 **R** "Grunkle Stan is Grunkle Ford there?" Mabel asked.

 **-3** Stan was silent for a moment. "Do you have a cold Mabel? You sound weird."

"I just need to talk to Grunkle Ford."

"I'm not good enough?" Stan laughed. "No I'll go get him. Poindexter is in his lab still. So what do you need him for?"

"Um… Something strange is going on." Dipper said. "Have you noticed anything strange?"

"Like what?" Stan stopped speaking suddenly. "Poindexter?" There was a rustling on the other side of the phone and then it sounded like Stan dropped the phone.

"Grunkle Stan?" Dipper yelled out.

"Dipper?" A slightly squeaky voice said. "Is that you?"

"Grunkle Ford?" Mabel and Dipper said together.

"Something tells me we need to get together." An hour later the four of them sat in the living room of Ford's and Stan's house. Stan was the only one who looked normal. Ford was just as old as Dipper. They almost looked like they were twins in fact.

"So.. um… Any ideas anyone?" Mabel coughed slightly.

"I have no idea." Ford folded his arms, a strange motion for a twelve year old. "I am curious why Stanley wasn't affected by whatever happened… I'm most curious about the fact that it affect us differently. Or maybe that is how what ever this is works. Women grow older while men grow younger. I'm curious on how this would affect a child or a baby." He began to rub his chin.

"I'm just curious on how we reverse it." Dipper sighed.

"I agree with Dipper." Mabel said, though she looked calm as she knitted a sweater. "I don't really want to stay this old for the rest of my life. It would also make my life shorter, I don't really want this."

"I don't know what we should do." Ford sighed. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"So what do we do?" Stan asked.

Right then Dipper's phone rang. He glanced down at it and then answered. A strange, slightly familiar voice spoke on the other end. "Dipper!"

"Um… yes?" Dipper spoke a little hesitantly.  
"Dipper?" The voice spoke again. "Is that you?"

Dipper froze as he realized he recognized something about the voice. "Bree?" He looked at the others. "What's up?"

She was silent for a bit and then sighed. "Something weird is going on… I… I'm not sure what happened. I just woke up and well…"

"You grew older?" Dipper asked, turning the phone to speaker mode and setting it on the table. "Listen we-."

"Older?" Bree sounded confused. "The opposite. I'm young… I would say I'm about eight… or maybe nine." She sighed. "I'm not the only one. All the people on my floor are freaking out. Everyone's age has changed."

"Everyone?" Ford asked.

"Is that Ford?" Bree asked. "Wow how young did you go back?"

"Hi Bree!" Mabel said over the phone.

"Mabel… What… How old are you?"

"This is definitely one of the strangest conversations I've ever had." Stan said.

An hour later the group of them were walking through town together. Dipper kept glancing at Bree. She wore an oversized blue tshirt that fell to her knees, a large belt wrapped around her waist. She kept fiddling with her necklace as she walked. Somewhere she had found flip flops that were only a little bigger than her actual foot size.

"Stop looking at me." Bree grumbled under her breath. "This is the only thing that covered and fit."

"That was a problem." Ford nodded as they walked.

Bree glanced at him and grumbled. "I still don't like him." She glanced at Dipper and then back forward. "So what are we looking for anyways? I have no idea."

"Nether do the rest of us." Dipper chuckled.

"And Stan so far is the only one who wasn't affected." Mabel pipped in. "Which is weird."

"He's just an ingman." Ford shrugged. He stopped and looked around at the people. Everyone was freaking out. "This is just strange. The only time I've seen chaos like this…" He trailed off.

Dipper thought of Bill Cipher, the demon who had cause so much trouble for them in the past, before he was destroyed. He was sure that was what Ford was thinking. "So where should we start? If everyone was affected in the whole town…" Dipper paused as he noticed a younger version of Toby running through the streets laughing. "There has to be a point of origin or something."

"The town has grown so much… It's hard to tell where the center of the town is."

"Well it depends on if you include the forest parts around town or not." Bree said thinking. "Let's see... The water tower." Bree started walking. "Come on."

"Are you sure?" Dipper asked jogging up next to her.

"Hold up!" Mabel complained. "I can't keep up with you youngsters." As she said it she laughed.

"Oh come on!" Stan frowned. "Not all old people are slow."

"I do have to say I don't miss that." Ford chuckled.

"Come on." Bree rolled her eyes, but she did slow down a little. "As much as it's fun to be young again I would much rather not be forced to go through puberty again."

Dipper froze. Just thinking about that. "Yeah let's go." He sped up a little. As he glanced over at Bree he noticed her looking down at her necklace. A look of worry and sadness covered her face as she looked at it. Dipper wanted to say something but decided she would probably hurt him if he pried into her feelings.

"Hey Bree!"

She glanced up at him. "What?"

"How did you know that the water tower is the middle of town?"

She looked at him and then spoke, a slight look of relief on her face. "My Grandma has a map of Gravity Falls on her wall… I've stared at it a lot… To the point that I've memorized everything on that map." She smiled. "I'm kind of curious what happened to my Grandma now… I wonder if she got older or younger…"

"You didn't call her?" Dipper asked.

"No…. I didn't want to worry her." Bree smiled. "She's my favorite family member…. Besides I'm sure she's still in bed. She didn't go to bed till late last night. She had a lot of paperwork she had to take care of." She glanced over towards Ford and Stan. "When she realizes everything that has happened she might wake up and then she'll call me. Then I'll find out."

Dipper chuckled. "It is one of the weirdest things to wake up to."

"You don't have to tell me that." Bree chuckled. "I tried on my pj bottoms when I was getting out of bed. Smacked face down into the carpet." She chuckled. "I think I might be switching to shorts instead of pants."

Dipper smiled. A few minutes later they arrived at the water tower. Dipper looked up at it and sighed. I wonder what is doing all this…

"Come on." Bree pointed to the top of the water tower. "We should go up."

"Right. Go ahead." Dipper pointed. Bree put her hands on her hips and frowned. She pointed to her make shift dress. Dipper blushed and quickly started climbing up the water tower. He glanced down to see Ford and then Bree following him. He figured that Stan and Mabel were too old to climb up with them.

Dipper reached the top of the water tower and held out his hand, helping first Ford and then Bree up to the top. Everything seemed normal, just like the time they had been up there with the vampire bats. "Well I think this is a dead end." He looked around. "Now what?"

Bree moved away from him walking along the railing of the water tower. "Something is wrong here…. I'm sure of it."

"I don't see anything." Dipper sighed.

"I do." Ford said. He was crouching down and rubbing his fingers over the ground of the railing. He pulled up his finger a faint lining of dust was on his fingers. "Fairies."

"What?" Both Bree and Dipper said together.

"How'd you know?" A soft voice asked.

Dipper looked up to see a small woman sitting on the railing. She had long pink hair that was filtering down her back. She had bright golden wings fluttering behind her.

"I've met with fairies once before." Ford said standing up.

"I've never seen you before." The fairy woman frowned.

"I was… older… Did you do this?" He looked around. "To the town?"

"The queen ordered it." The fairy looked out over the town. "I don't know why… She's been acting strange all day yesterday and today… She told us to change all the ages in town… She didn't explain why."

"We need to talk to her." Ford said. "Please take us."

The little fairy looked at them and then clapped her hands. Dipper felt like he was falling and then he was standing in a field of flowers. "What the?!" He spun around.

Bree was doing the same, but Ford seemed alright. "Where are we?" Bree asked.

"The fairy's home dimension." Ford looked around. "Where is the Queen?"

The little fairy, now as tall as them, wearing a golden colored dress pointed towards a grove of trees. "You'll find her in there."

"Let's go." Ford started walking. Bree and Dipper looked at each other and then started walking together. Ford led the way as if he had been there thousands of times before. After a short hike they found a woman curled up against a tree. She had long golden blond hair that had specks of glitter in her hair. Two matching golden wing fluttered behind her back. She looked up slowly and frowned.

"Stanford Pines…" She whispered. "You have returned… I thought I told you not to return to our home?"

"I had to… Why did you order all the fairies to turn us into younger versions of ourselves?"

The queen looked away. "I had to… It was the only way… I have to…. He orders it…" She curled up into a tighter bundle. "Leave, you aren't needed here."

It was only then that Dipper saw the other body. A young boy, no older than ten, was cradled in the queen's arm. The boy looked like her, only he was missing the wings. His body was stained with blood.

"What happened?" It was Bree who moved forward towards the queen. "THat boy?"

"Don't touch him!" The queen cried out and cradled the boy closer to her. "You humans.. All you do is hurt us… I will not let you touch us any more…" As she moved a jangale of bones around her neck sounded.

"Wait!" Dipper moved forward. He held up his hands as the queen glared. "Let me take that off." He moved closer. "You are controled by that aren't you?"

The queen looked at him and then started to cry. Dipper walked closer and slowly slipped the necklace of bones off her. It looked just like the ones that had been on the bats. The queen broke down and held the boy close. "Leave... " She sobbed. "Tell Lily to reverse it… I don't care any more…"

Bree and Dipper looked at each other and then slowly backed away. Ford went to say something but stopped as both them looked at. The three walked back towards the original fairy, Lily. They looked over.

"How is she?" Lily looked down. "Is she still holding onto the prince?"

"The prince?" Bree stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Is that… her son? What happened?"

Lily looked down. "She was… She was crazed… She… she ripped off the prince's wings… She left him to die…. Then she came back… She ordered us to… to torment the humans… and she collapsed and held him to her chest…."

"She was forced to." Dipper frowned and gripped the bone collar. "She told you that you can reverse what you did."

Lily nodded. "I see…" She waved a hand and suddenly they were standing on the top of the water tower again, and Dipper was older again.

"Bree!" He turned to look at her and found her hiding behind Ford, a blush on her checks.

"Don't look." Dipper turned to look away. Ford and Bree had changed back. "You either old man!"

Ford chuckled. His belt had popped off and his pants fit normally. The same couldn't be said for his shirt. Dipper glanced down to see that Mabel had turned back to normal as well. "Hey Grunkle Stan can we borrow your shirt? Bree needs a new shirt."

"Sounds good." Stan started to take his shirt off. "But I do want it back."

"Thanks Dipper." Bree said.

"Thank you."

Dipper spun and found the fairy Lily standing there. "Um.. You're welcome…"

"Our queen is still grieving but she will get better… She knows now that it wasn't her fault. As thanks I want to give you something." She held up a piece of stone. "It came to us long ago… We don't know what it is but our queen has always said it is important. So here."

Dipper took the stone and froze. It was a stone tablet piece that he had been looking for. "Thank you." He looked at Lily and she nodded and then disappeared. Dipper looked down at the stone piece and smiled. "This is great…."

Cfsb mfbzbp altk.


	17. Chapter 17

**A** A bird chirped and landed near Bree. It looked kind of familiar as it cocked its head. Bree slowly took out her phone and snapped a picture. Right as she clicked the button the bird flew away. "Darn it." She whispered and glanced down at the picture. It looked slightly distorted and the bird didn't even really look like a bird anymore. It was elongated the colors all blurred together. "Well that didn't work." She shook her head and slid the phone back into her pocket.

 **1** Bree glanced over at the others and then looked back down at her notebook. Ford was explaining about some kind of creature. The whole class was out in the middle of the forest and she just sat there reading her textbook. She just felt… lonely today. She knew there were a group of people near her but she also knew that if she mind walked she would see that not one of them was thinking of her. Not even Dipper. She had come to enjoy the boy's presence but she also knew that his attention was directed elsewhere. Instead she fingered the small medallion around her neck. It was hard to believe it had been eight years already. She tightened her grip on the necklace and closed her eyes. She found herself leaving her mind and wandering among the people. She could see where she could step into their minds. So many minds.

 **Z** THe one that stood out the most to her was Dipper. Strangely the more familiar she was with a person the brighter their mind seemed to be. Even Ford's glowed brighter than she had expected. She reached out slightly towards Dipper's mind but stopped. No I'm not going to invade his mind. I promised myself I wouldn't… Not him or Mabel. Though she did eye Ford. She was half tempted to go over to his mind but she could hear a faint pressure in her ear, which meant someone was trying to talk to her. She rushed back to her body and opened her eyes. Dipper stood there.

 **2** "Oh hey." He smiled. "Sorry did I wake you."

 **6** "Not really, is the lesson over?" She asked sitting up and tucking her necklace back into her shirt. "Did I miss much?" She smiled.

"No." Dipper chuckled. "Everyone is just splitting up, I thought you should know."

"Sounds good." Bree stretched her arms above her head as if she was waking up. "Does Ford need m to drive a group of anything?"

"He just wanted you to keep an eye out. If we're going to catch the hide behind-."

"Who names these things?" Bree shook her head. "Alright I'll keep an eye out."

"Right." Dipper nodded and then headed over towards Ford. The two started talking softly. Bree frowned and then closed her eyes and headed closer. If she focused she could pick out words…

"He still hasn't show up to class." Dipper was saying. "He emails our assignments to us but no one has seen him in a while."

"I'm concerned. After the fairies.." Ford's voice trailed off.

Bree frowned. Something else was making noise in the area. She took a step away from the others and narrowed her eyes towards the sound. It sounded like… Hooves… Bree jolted back to her own body and sat up straight right as she heard a large crash. Everyone looked around confused. Bree threw her book into the back of her cart and rushed towards Dipper and Ford. "Hey!" Her voice was drowned out by a loud stampeding sound. Everyone dove for cover as a stampede of colorful horses rushed past. Bree watched as the horses stormed away, but there was something about them… Wait a moment… Bree froze. They all have horns and rainbow colored manes…

"Is everyone okay?" Ford called out.

There were groaned and complaints but for the most part everyone seemed okay. "Was that…"

"UNICORNS!" A woman yelled out. "They exist!"

Ford nodded. "Yes they exist… But I'm surprised they came this way. Normally they stay to themselves and after that incident with Mable…" He shook his head. "I haven't seen a unicorn in ages."

"Which is perfectly fine." Dipper nodded. "But why are they storming past us?"

"No idea."

"Is anyone worried that they are headed towards town?" Bree asked, dusting off her pants. Everyone froze and then everyone was storming towards the golf carts. "I guess so." She headed over to her own cart and started to drive.

Why is so much stuff happening now? And why is this town so calm about everything? She grumbled. After the fairies event she had suspected the town to freak out but the next day everyone acted the same. It really bugged her.

The golf carts moved through the forests slower than the Pines seemed to like. Both were swerving and jerking left and right to avoid trees and Bree was falling behind slightly. Though she wasn't as invested in all this. At least until she noticed a group of unicorns jogging between her and the Pines. "Hey." She looked at the man next to her, who was looking pale and clinging to the armrest next to him. She rolled her eyes. "Call someone on the other cart and warn them-." She was cut off as the unicorns charged out of the forest, horns down towards Dipper's cart.

"Oh forget this. Hold on!" Bree yelled and slammed her foot down recklessly. The cart jolted forward and zipped straight towards the unicorn. She hit it at full speed and it let out a pained cry before flying over Dipper's cart.

"Bree?" Dipper's voice almost couldn't be heard.

"WATCH OUT FOR THE SIDES!" Bree yelled as loudly as she could. Hopefully Ford would hear as well. Bree and Dipper both moved their carts down along the path, keeping an eye along their way. Ford drove a mile or so ahead of them, being way more reckless than the two younger ones. Bree gasped as something slammed into the back of her cart and she was thrown out of the cart. She slammed into the ground and gasped in pain.

A unicorn reared up above her suddenly and Bree froze. No! A small red form darted into the unicorn's path distracting it. Bree rolled out of the way of the hooves and started to run towards the cart. It looked like the student who had been sitting next to her had manned up and taken control of the wheel.

"Bree!" Dipper's cart was closer to hers now. He held out his hand and Bree took it. Sliding into place next to him on the front seat. Luckily no one else was sitting up there. They were all cowering in the back seats.

"What do we do?" Bree asked, barely able to get the words out.

"I don't … Bree check and see if you can see anything around any of the unicorn's necks!"

"What?"

"Just trust me!" Dipper yelled.

"Fine." Bree scanned over the unicorns running around them. None of them had anything-. "There!" She pointed at a unicorn with a blue horn and flowing pink and blue mane. "It looks like… Bones… Hang on… It looks like the same kind of necklace that the fairy queen was wearing."

"I knew it." Dipper growled.

"Dipper what is going on?" Bree glanced back at him for a second before finding the unicorn again. It was heading straight at Ford. "Dipper it's heading towards Ford."

"Hang on!" Dipper yelled and slammed on the gas peddle. Bree had to cling onto the cart's armrest so she didn't get flung off. "Bree you need to get that necklace of bones off the unicorn."

"What?" Bree glared at Dipper. "You expect me to try and get that thing off the unicorn! I'll die before I get close enough." She eyed the unicorn's horn. "You do it or I'll do it." Dipper yelled as he jerked the cart to get closer.

"I'll do it." Bree grumbled. She wasn't sure she trusted Dipper to drive and grab the necklace. Dipper nodded and the cart moved closer.

Bree shivered and touched her necklace for courage. "Help me out my old friend." She whispered, and then leaned out. Her fingers brushed the necklace when the Unicorn turned to look at her. It's purple eyes seemed cold and dark. Bree tightened her grip on the bones and pulled. The unicorn pulled away and Bree would have tumbled out if Dipper didn't grab her arm. At the same time as the Unicorn pulled away Dipper jerked the cart in the other direction and there was a large snap. Bree tumbled into Dipper and the unicorn ran away, leaving the bones scattered along the ground.

"Good job." Dipper smiled and slowed his cart.

"ARE YOU CRAZY KEEP GOING!" A woman yelled.

Dipper?" Bree asked.

"We should be okay now."

"Dipper!" Ford was driving his golf cart back towards them. Bree couldn't help but notice how beat up his cart looked. Well she couldn't really blame him for all that… after all she had crashed her own cart not that long ago. "Is everyone okay?" Ford asked, stopping his cart. "Bree? WHere's your cart?"

"Probably on it's way back down to the school… You might have lost half your class this year Ford."

"Is this what it's like every year?" A woman asked from Ford's cart.

"No usually we don't have any issues like this. In fact I don't even bring anyone near the unicorns in my classes." He rubbed his chin. "Dipper are those bones on the ground?"

"Yeah." Dipper nodded. "They were around one of the unicorn's necks."

"I see… He's getting more aggressive." Ford whispered.

He? Bree frowned and glacned at Dipper. He seemed to know what Ford was talking about but wasn't saying anything. What are the pines up against?

"Let's head back to campus." Ford sighed. "Make sure everyone is alright."

Everyone groaned in thanks.

Bree settled back in her seat and looked at Dipper. "So what is this all about?" He didn't look at her as he drove.

"I'll explain later." He whispered. "I promise."

Bree had never been more tempted to explore Dipper's mind since she had gotten to know him. "Okay…" She whispered and closed her eyes and closed her eyes. But if you don't… I might break my promise… or just explore Ford's mind. She listened to the sounds of the forest, hearing many whispering voices. She caught the words Unicorn, bones, and control. What is going on here in Gravity falls?

3-1-14 25-15-21 7-21-5-19-19 23-8-1-20 9-19 8-1-16-16-5-14-9-14-7?

1-14-4 4-9-4 25-15-21 14-15-20-9-3-5 20-8-5 2-9-18-4?


	18. Chapter 18

Dipper shifted his backpack back as he walked out of the classroom. Another day and still no Professor Gilroy. In fact he and the rest of the class had gotten an email saying that for the next couple weeks at least they would be an online class. Dipper didn't like that. He sighed as he left his other classroom. His bag jostled slightly reminding him that he had all his notes for the stone tablets and the most recent piece with him. He knew he should have left the stone tablet with Ford to study but he felt like he was so close to figuring out what it said. He was so close!

"Miss Ice."

Dipper froze as he recognized the voice. He stopped and slid behind the wall and glanced around slightly. He spotted Gilroy, the man himself, standing there. He didn't look sick or anything. He only looked annoyed. Bree stood in front of him, looking extremely impatient.

"I told you I'm busy, and I'm not planning on being your TA or anything so I don't see what you need to talk with me about." Flip

"I need to talk to you now Miss Ice."

"I'm not taking your class. I'm not changing who I TA for. I have no plans to take your class. The only plans I have right now are to go camping this weekend. Now if you would leave me alone I still have to run to the store to get some food." She waved a hand slightly and started walking.

Gilroy looked like he wanted to punch something, but instead he stalked off in another direction. It

What does Gilroy want with Bree? Dipper frowned and looked after Bree, but he knew he had to figure out what Gilroy was doing. So instead he dashed after Gilroy. The professor walked through the school campus without really seeming to pay much attention to anything. He was muttering to himself but Dipper couldn't make it out. He didn't want Gilroy to catch him. So he had to stay back too far to overhear.

As they came closer to the edge of campus Dipper was getting impatient. But right before he could dash towards the next hiding spot a voice spoke in his ear, startling him.

"What are you doing?"

"P-Pacifica." Dipper stuttered seeing her, resting a hand over his chest to settle his heart. "I-." She raised her eyebrow. He sighged. "I'm following my prof-." He went to point but Gilroy was gone. "Darn it." Around

"Why are you following your professor?" Pacifica asked glancing towards where Gilroy had last been. "Are you turning into a stalker now?" She smiled at him.

Normally Dipper would have made some smart aleck comment and the two of them would have gone back and forth but right now… "He's the one behind all the problems that have been happening recently. At least that is what Ford and I believe. We've been trying to figure it all out but we haven't really been able to figure out much. So I was following him to see if I could find out more."

"Sounds good." Pacifica rolled up her sleeves. "Let's go now."

"What?" Dipper blinked. then

"I'll come with you." Pacifica smiled. She held out her hand to him. "Ready?"

"Hang on…" Dipper flushed. "Why are you coming with me?"

"Because." She rolled her eyes and took his hand. "Come on!" She started to pull him after Gilroy. He didn't complain though he was a little confused. The two of them walked in the direction they figured Gilroy had gone. They walked in silence for a little, still hand in hand. Dipper wasn't sure about his feelings on that. Sure he liked Pacifica, they had become good friends over the years, but he wasn't sure what to call their relationship. He still didn't understand girls, even though he had a girlfriend before. That was during high school. That didn't work out in the end. He was too weird for her.

"Is that him?" Pacifica suddenly whispered.

Dipper stopped and glanced around the tree. Gilroy was standing not far away, talking to a bird. A bird? Dipper frowned and glanced at Pacifica. She shrugged. Dipper couldn't hear what he was saying but he wanted to get closer. Caesar

Pacifica held his hand tighter. "What is he doing?" She whispered.

"I don't know. Let me-." Before he could move the bird flew off and Gilroy looked up at the sky. "Hey!" He yelled. He shook his head and then pulled out what looked like a string of bones and small charms. He shook it slightly and a jangle noise sounded. A chill ran down Dipper's back. He glanced at Pacifica. Her face had gone pale as well. The sound was horrible. It seemed to cast a cold pressure over the whole area.

Dipper took a step back and then he heard a loud buzzing noise. A giant bee suddenly flew down into view and landed in front of Gilroy. Another necklace of bones was around the bee's neck. -3

"Took you long enough." Gilroy shoved the string of bones into a pocket. "I've got a job for you." The bee seemed angry as it buzzed it's wings slightly. It almost seemed to glare at Gilroy. "Shut up." He pulled out a picture from his pocket. "Find and take these people. They are older now but find them. Do what you want but complete my task first. Understand." THe bee buzzed up slightly. "And this one." He pulled up another picture. "But don't hurt this one. The rest it doesn't matter."

What is he planning? Dipper thought as he tried to see the paper. Of course Gilroy's back was to Dipper and so was the paper. He couldn't see who Gilroy was targeting, though he did have an idea.

"Don't fail me." Gilroy said and then started to walk off.

"Dipper?" Pacifica whispered. "What is going on?"

"I'll explain later, come on." He took her hand and led her back towards campus. "I need to go talk to Grunkle Ford. All the weird stuff that has been happening recently, we're pretty sure that Professor Gilroy is behind everything. We're trying to figure out what he is doing."

"That's crazy." She whispered. "Doesn't he know he could get someone hurt."

Before Dipper could answer there was a loud buzzing. Dipper stopped and looked up. The giant bee was flying over them and coming towards them. "PACIFICA RUN!" He yelled, letting go of her hand. No way can I let her get drawn into this. He started to run away from her. He hoped that he could get to Ford before the bee grabbed him. I was right. He thought. Right as he thought that something grabbed the back of his shirt. He gasped and looked up. The bee had him. He struggled, but the bee shifted and tightened it's grip on his arms this time. At least Pacifica got away, she can tell-. The Bee turned off and headed towards Pacifica. Why is it going after her?! "PACIFICA RUN!" He yelled, but she couldn't outpace the giant bee. It grabbed her as well.

"Dipper?" She gasped looking at him wide eyed. He tried to reach out to her but it was hard the way the bee was grabbing him and holding on. Instead the two of them just had to hang on as the bee flew over the town. It zoomed up and around until it came towards the largest beehive Dipper had ever seen. It was up above the waterfall that lead into the large lake, only hidden among the trees. "Wow." He whispered. He knew he should be worried but at the same time he was kind of amazed to see it.

The bee flew over a patch of the hive and then dropped them. Dipper and Mabel both cried out as they went tumbling down into one of the hexes. Dipper slid to a stop and looked at Pacifica. She looked okay. He stood up and looked up at the sky above them. The hex was at least four Dipper's high and the walls were covered in honey. "Are you okay?" He asked Pacifica.

"I'll be fine." She sighed.

"It doesn't look like we can get out of here very easily." He sighed. He sat down next to Pacifica and pulled out his notebook.

"Aren't you going to try and get us out?" Pacifica asked.

"I can't climb that." Dipper dug around and pulled out his phone. "No service." He frowned.

"Just great." Pacifica frowned. "We're bee food."

"Maybe not." Dipper sighed. "If we can figure out another-." He stopped seeing his notebook. "But while we wait I'm going to work on this."

"WHat is it?" Pacifica sat down while he opened to his notes. On the top of the page he had written out the symbols that they had figured out. He knew A, X, O, L, T, S, E, T, and H. He also had written out what they had of the symbols in order and what he had decoded.

"Axolotals something was something." Pacifica started to read.

"What?" Dipper asked. "I'm guessing that symbol means w. Which makes that word was."

"How did I not notice that?!" Dipper started to write down the new word. He knew exactly how he hadn't. He had been so focused on figuring out all the big words. He had his notes on the other page. "Here help me with this." He pulled out the page and handed it to Pacifica.

"Let's see." She whispered. "This second word. Four letters. Unknown, a, unknown, e. She whispered. "Name."

"What?" Dipper asked.

"Axolotal, sounds like a name. Name fits the bill. That would make the sentence Axolotals name was something."

Dipper nodded and wrote down name and what symbols matched with n and me. He scanned through the rest of the notes and filled in the n and ms.

"This word." Pacifica said. "Something, and then east. Lets see…. Feast, teast, peast, yeast-."

"Beast!" Dipper grinned and quickly wrote down. "The beast!"

The two of them continued to work for a long time. In fact before they knew it was growing dark. But Dipper was excited. He had almost fully translated the tablet. So far it read Axolotals name was played. Something the beast free to return. Chained in place. Yet easy, missing piece, release. When something, and a large space, is spilt on stone. Chain will, missing piece. Chaos will, missing piece. Until the, missing piece, red. But first, missing piece, be broken. Seek th, missing piece. One, missing piece.

"Well this is all confusing." Pacifica sighed. "What is it supposed to mean."

"Not sure." Dipper sighed. "It's that missing piece… If I had it… I could figure it all out."

"Do you have any idea where it could be?" Pacifica asked.

"No." He stood up and looked up. "I really thought though something would have happened by now." He reached up and scrapped at the honey on the nearest wall. Even though the honey was sticky they couldn't get themselves up. They would slid back down before they could even get halfway up.

"Do you think the bees are going to eat us?"

"I highly doubt it." Dipper frowned.

Right as he was about to say something else there was a loud zipping noise. Not at all like the bee's wings. And then something struck the honey covered wall inches above his head.

"Ah!" Pacifica gasped.

"Dipper!" Mabel poked her head over and looked down at the two.

"Mabel!"

"Are you okay?" Ford poked his head over as well. "Sorry it took us so long to find you. We had to take care of these bees."

"I punched them out." Stan said as his own head came over.

"No you didn't!" Ford said. "You only punched the one!"

Dipper smiled and pointed to the grappling hook. "Go ahead up Pacifica."

"Alright." She took the hook and then slowly she was hauled up. Dipper started to gather up his stuff and shoved it into his backpack. He stopped though as he noticed something. He had been sitting in a spot that had seen kind of solid but now that he thought about it he shouldn't have had such a solid spot. What made him start thinking that was he noticed that there seemed to be a stone base. He scratched at it with his fingers, digging up some honey.

"Dipper your turn!" Mabel yelled down.

"Hang on." He called up and then pried at the stone flooring. There was one piece that wasn't connected to the rest of the stone pieces as easily. As he pulled it up he froze. Symbols were carved into it and one symbol in particular stood out. The symbol that had represented Ford for so many years. A six fingered hand.

"Dipper come on!" Pacifica called down. "The bees look like they are going to wake up soon.

"I'm coming!" Dipper gripped the stone tightly to his chest and then let Mabel and Ford help haul him up. The last piece. He thought. I can finally figure it out… We can figure out what Gilroy is up to! He grinned as he climbed over the edge. "Look what I was sitting on."

"Is that?" Ford asked.

"Yep." Dipper grinned.

"Can we get out of here?" Pacifica asked.

"We need to round up all the bone necklaces." Ford said, drawing his eyes away from Dipper and the stone tablet. "Dipper once we get back home you should clean that up. I don't know if you can read it as well with all that honey on it."

"Right." Dipper nodded. He smiled at Pacifica. She didn't look happy but she did smile back.

"Come on." Stan headed towards what looked like a large unconscious bee. "If any of them wake up I'll punch them out again."

"I already told you." Ford sighed. "It was the knock out bomb I shot at them. The high frequency sound-."

"Whatever poindexter!" Stan yelled.

"I'm glad you're okay." Mabel whispered to Dipper. "When a bee tried to steal Grunkle Ford and we couldn't get ahold of you." She looked down.

"Don't worry about me." Dipper smiled. "I was fine." He lightly shoved at her shoulder. "I'm just glad they didn't get ahold of you as well. You really saved us."

Mabel grinned. "Grappling hook, best present ever."

Dipper laughed and looked at his family, and Pacifica. He really was surrounded by good people. We'll figure out what Gilroy is doing and we will take care of everything… We can do it. I know we can. He headed towards a bee and grinned.

Loddls vofty apsfs tot yic qi?


	19. Chapter 19

Dipper set the whole stone tablet on the floor and then spread out his notes. With Pacifica's help he had been able to decode quite a bit of the stone but now was the time for finally figuring out what it said. Ford came walking in with Stan, the two dragging a white board with them. Mabel danced in behind them carrying a handful of colorful expo markers.

 **V** "Alright everyone ready?" Dipper asked looking at his family. Everyone nodded. Mabel moved into position at the board. "First line has 22 symbols. Second line has 27 symbols. Third line has 14 symbols. Fourth line has 11 symbols. Fifth line has 16 symbols. Sixth line has 30 symbols. Seventh line has 14 symbols. Eight line has 14 symbols. Ninth line has 22 symbols. Tenth line has 25 symbols. Eleventh line has 19 symbols." Dipper looked up from where he was looking at the tablet. Now the white board looked like a complex game of hangman.

 **I** "Now I'll read what we've got." Ford said picking up the notes. "Ready Mabel?"

 **G** "Ready!" She said and started to transcribe what they already had.

 **E** For the next hour the four of them worked until they had the complete hangman like board filled out. Mabel put the cap back on her pen and they all took a step back to look at the board.

 **N** Dipper slowly spoke, reading what the board said. "Axolotal's name was played. Leaving the beast free to return. Chained in place. It is trapped. Yet easy to release. When trusted blood is split on stone. Chain will break. Chaos will reign. Until the seal is restored. But first trust must be broken. Seek the sign of one eye."

 **E** They all went quiet.

 **R** "Axolotal." Ford whispered. "A powerful creature…"

 **E** "I'm more worried about the blood part." Stan rubbed his chin. "What does it mean split on stone? This stone?"

"And what beast is it talking about?" Mabel asked.

Dipper reread the stone tablet in his head and looked down at it. "One eye." He whispered and then a shiver ran down his back. "Return… One eye… Oh no."

"What's wrong Dipper?" Ford asked.

"One eye, beast… Chaos." He looked at each of them. "Return." He met Ford's eyes and Ford seemed to understand.

"It's not possible."

"What are you two talking about?" Stan frowned.

"Bill Cipher." Ford sat down. "But he shouldn't be able to return… We erased him from existence!"

"And what is this about Axolotal's name?" Mabel asked. "How can you play a name? Grunkle Stan did Bill say anything before he was destroyed?"

"How can I remember? That was what… Seven years ago?" He frowned. "But…" He closed his eyes. "I think… I think he said a stream of gibberish."

"It's possible that he was saying Axolotal's name just in another language." Ford whispered. "If this is true… Dipper." He looked up. "This is bad."

"But he's not back yet is he?" Mabel asked. "We're safe for now right."

 **m** "Let's take a look at it again, piece by piece." Ford said. "Dipper write down the decoded set."

 **i** Dipper nodded and wrote down the whole message. "Done."

 **n** "Okay read the first line." Ford said as he erased the board.

 **d** "Axolotals name was played." Dipper said. Ford transcribed the sentence at the very top in one color. "But we already talked about that right. Grunkle Stan remembers Bill saying something."

 **s** "Right." In another color Ford wrote Bill's last words in Stan's mind. "Okay next line."

 **c** "Leaving the beast free to return." Dipper said. Again Ford wrote the line.

 **a** "Which means Bil can come back." Mabel said. Ford wrote on the board- Bill comes back.

 **p** "Chained in place." Dipper said. They were all silent for a minute, none of them had any ideas. "It is trapped."

 **e** "So Bill is trapped somewhere." Ford said as he wrote Bill trapped. "That's good."

"Yet easy to release." Dipper whispered. They didn't speak, and Dipper continued. "When trusted blood is split on stone."

 **s** "The blood line." Stan said. "But what does it mean by trusted? Poindexter any ideas?"

 **h** "Maybe if we one of us sacrifices someone we trust and spills their blood on the stone tablet something will happen."

 **a** "But the next line says Chain will break, and then Chaos will reign."

 **r** "So someone Bill trusts?" Mabel asked.

 **k** "I doubt Bill trusts anyone." Ford waved a hand and then wrote a question mark next to the line about blood. "But whatever it is let's keep blood away from the stone tablet."

"Right." THey all agreed. Dipper looked at the next line. "Until the seal is restored."

"The seal keeping Bill trapped?" Stan asked.

"Most likely." Ford wrote on the board, reseal Bill.

"But first trust must be broken." Dipper said. "Our trust?" He looked up.

"I think that line connects to the blood line again." Stan said.

"It could have something to do with my old saying." Ford whispered. "Trust no one. Or maybe this is a warning of not to trust anyone… Bill could be using anyone, we can't forget that Bill is tricky. This might have to do more about what will happen if Bill is released. Dipper what is the last line?"

"Seek the sign of one eye."

"That's talking about Bill right? Something that represents him." Mabel said. "There are lots of old windows that have a triangle with an eye."

Ford was rubbing his chin. "I just thought about something." He said slowly. "It sounds like Bill is trapped somewhere, but the only place I could think of him being trapped in is the mindscape. If that is true then we can go and defeat him there. All we have to do is get there and then we can defeat him for good, before he breaks free."

"Is that such a good idea?" Dipper frowned standing back up. "What if by going we break him out instead."

"He's weaker in the mindscape." Mabel said. "I bet we can easily beat him. Remember kitten fists." She smirked.

"I don't know…" Dipper looked down at the stone tablet. He thought of the old cipher wheel they had started to use to beat Bill. It made sense that his symbol, Ford's, Mabel's and Stan's but he didn't understand why Wendy's symbol was on it.

"Let's go now. It's a long weekend so we can spend it searching the mindscape for Bill." Ford started to gather up the notes. "What do you all say?"

Dipper frowned but eventually they all agreed and then before he knew it the four of them were setting it up so they were arriving in the mindscape. And then they set off. The first day of searching provided almost nothing and they explored the whole of the town of Gravity Falls' mirror world in the mindscape. The next day they started exploring the forest area.

Dipper glanced around. Even after most of the day before it felt strange to see the mindscape all around him. The world felt warped and strange.

"Does it feel like something is watching us?" Mabel whispered. She moved closer to Dipper. "This place seems creepier than yesterday."

"The further we get from where we are tethered to the real world the more the mindscape will reject our presence." Ford said as he led the way. "But it won't change our power here."

"It's still creepy." Mabel whispered.

Dipper glanced around. He could feel it as well. And then he heard a loud screeching noise. It reminded him of a sick bird and he and the others jumped. "Grunkle Ford?"

"I don't know…" Ford frowned as he glanced around. "I've never spent much time in the mindscape. Come on, we'll keep going… just slowly.."

They continued to walk, every now and then hearing the screech again. And it kept getting closer. Dipper and Mabel stuck close to each other. After a while Ford held up his hand and they stopped. "Did you hear that?" He whispered.

Dipper concentrated and heard a crunching noise. He tensed, wishing he had a weapon. Suddenly he had a ray gun in his hand. Oh right mindscape. He thought to himself. They all waited and then the bushes in front of them rustled and a figure came walking out of them. It was Bree. "Bree?" He asked.

She stopped and stared at them. "What are you four doing here?" She frowned. "How did you get here? Now forget that you probably used a spell. What are you doing here?"

"We should be asking you that." Ford frowned. "This is the mindscape."

"I'm aware." Bree rolled her eyes. "I've been wandering the mindscape in my spare time since I was an infant." She shook her head. "I know my way around here better than any of you Pines." She glanced at Dipper and then back at Ford. "Now you didn't answer my question."

"We're looking for something." Mabel said. "What about you?"

"I'm just wandering ." Bree shrugged. "I do this sometimes. I was out camping this weekend and decided to see what I could find, sometimes I find interesting things in the mindscape." She looked away. "See ya."

"Wait!" Dipper rushed forward and grabbed her arm. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Bree turned to face him. A look of concern was on her face.

"A loud screech." Stan said moving closer. "Have you ever heard anything like that while here?"

"Sure." Bree said. "There are creatures that live in the mindscape, but they aren't a problem as long as you stay away from them. Though I have used them as ideas for masks and horror stories before." She smiled. "Dipper already got himself a gun, so you shouldn't be so freaked out."

"It sounds like it's been following us and getting closer." Ford said.

Bree frowned. "Now that's weird. I've never seen one move closer, of course I've always been on my own." She glanced around. "I would advise returning to your bodies."

"We're a little far." Dipper glanced around.

"Well there are other ways." Bree chuckled. "Your physically make yourself return to your body, even from a distance, by knocking yourself out. Of course it isn't very comfortable and you'll have a headache for a while depending on the distance. It's kind of like forcing yourself awake."

"You know a lot about the mindscape." Ford said.

"Like I said I-." She stopped as a loud screech sounded from nearby. "Okay that is close." She looked around. "Yeah I would say return now."

"Why?" Dipper frowned holding up his gun. "We can defend ourselves."

"True but if they tear too many holes into your mental form it can scar your brain when you return. I wouldn't advise risking it." She glanced around. "Go."

But before any of them could move a creature jumped out of the nearby bushes. It looked like a hairless deformed human. It had an elongated muzzle like face and two red beady eyes. Sharp shark like teeth filled its mouth and long grey claws were in place of it's fingers.

"What is that?" Mabel jumped.

"A mindscape shark." Bree whispered. "At least that is what I call them. They travel alone throughout the mindscape and are fast. I've never seen one up close though." She moved slowly until she was closer to Dipper. "Don't make any sudden moves."

"Can't I just shot it?" Dipper asked.

"And risk missing and enraging it?" She grumbled. "That's not a good idea."

"So knock ourselves out?" Ford asked.

"Best idea." Bree nodded.

"Hang on." Dipper whispered. "Look." He tensed. A necklace of bones was around the creature's neck. "Someone is controlling it."

"That shouldn't be possible?" Bree turned to look at Dipper. She honestly looked confused. And the creature shot forward, straight at her.

"Bree!" Dipper shoved her away and they all scattered.

Bree was quickly back on her feet, circling with the creature as it's eyes jolted between each of them. It screeched and then lunged at Bree again, aiming to cut her with it's claws. Bree jumped to the side in a nimble movement. "Knock yourselves out!" She yelled. "It's-." The creature slammed into her and she went flying and slammed into a tree. The tree and her fuzzed slightly and then Bree was gone.

"Bree!" Dipper yelled and then he had to move to avoid the mindscape shark. Slowly he was backed up until he was back to back with his family, they all had weapons in hand.

"That's enough." A voice called out.

The mindscape shark hissed and then backed down crouching low. Gilroy came walking out of the trees as he looked at them. "Hello Pines."

"Gilroy." Ford frowned. "Why are you doing this?"  
"Because I told him to." A voice laughed.

A chill ran down Dipper's back as a familiar shape came out of the trees. Bill Cipher. He was laughing, but strangely there was a chain wrapped around his ankle that connected to… a bird.

"Bill." Ford growled.

"Long time no see Sixer." Bill smiled. "Miss me?"

Tmyog Oepxkhcbc scrvk yhd'w thcb.


	20. Chapter 20

"Bill." Dipper shivered as he saw the old demon that had tormented his family during his first summer in Gravity Falls, and long before when Ford had first come to Gravity Falls. "How are you alive?"

"Did you really think you could kill me pine tree."

"You looked pretty scared when I punched you." Stan smirked.

Bill frowned narrowing his one eye. "I see you got your memories  
back Stanley." Bill frowned. "Gils take care of them." Bill waved a hand.

Why doesn't Bill just do something? Dipper wondered as Gilroy  
waved a hand and the mindshark moved closer to them. And what is with the chain?

"Tie them up, we need them alive for this." Gilroy told the  
mindshark, holding out a rope.

"Do you think that will hold us?" Ford smirked. "You can't keep us  
trapped in the mindscape."

"You think?" Gilroy smirked. "I have done more research than you  
ever have Pines. I know things that you don't. Like objects that you have with  
you when you first get to the mindscape are more powerful than objects you  
conjure with your mind. I also know that anything the creatures here use is  
more firmly rooted since this is their whole existence."

The mindshark hissed as it quickly circled the pines family, tying  
them all together. It roared and then forced them to sit. "Why are you working  
with Bill?" Ford yelled. "Gilroy?"

"Shut up." Gilroy turned to Bill. "Let's get this over with."

"Do you have everything we need set up on the other side?" Bill  
asked, looking away from the Pines. "We can't have any mistakes here."

"Don't worry I know what I'm doing." Gilroy took off the backpack  
he wore and set it down. He began to take out a set of items. Dipper watched  
trying to see what it all was. First was what looked like a vampire fang  
followed by a mere scale, a small vial of water, another vial of glittering  
dust. Then there was a bunch of short candles. "You're still in the center  
right?" Gilroy glanced at Bill.

"Of course I am." Bill folded his arms over his… chest?.. and  
looked at the Pines. "Let's get this all started."

"What are you doing?" Mabel asked, struggling in their bonds a  
little. Her elbow nailed Dipper in the side and he grunted slightly.

"Shut up." Gilroy glared. He walked over to the middle of the  
clearing and began to set out the candles in a circle. Bill followed him, the  
chain dragging along the ground following bill. Bill sat in the middle of the  
circle of the candles and fire sparked to life on each of the candle wicks.  
Dipper watched as Gilroy drew two large triangles along the ground forming a  
star with Bill and the candles at the center.

"What are you doing?" Stan asked.

"I said shut up." Gilroy spat at them and then pulled out six  
little figurines. Dipper froze. Each of the figures were familiar. There was  
himself, Mabel, Ford, Fiddleford, Soos, and Gideon. Each of the small figures  
was set on the point of one of the points of the star. Gilroy pulled out two  
small strand of white hair and stuck one into the Gideon figure's head, one in  
the Fiddleford figure's head and then pulled out a short stubbly dark hair and  
stuck it in the Soos figure's head.

"Is that their hair?" Mabel whispered.

"How long have you been planning this?" Ford hissed out.

"I said shut up!" Gilroy spun to glare at them.

"No need to be so harsh." Bill laughed. "I'll tell them, you  
continue to get eveything set up." Bill turned to look at them, not moving from  
his circle. "You might have trapped me here years ago but I've been planning  
and I will be escaping from here today." Bill laughed. "I will be taking back  
your world and it will be a party."

"You won't succeed." Ford glared. "We will beat you again."

"You had your chance and you failed." Bill smirked. "I will return  
and I will take your world. And once I have you Pines will die."

"Alright I'm ready for the ceremony." Gilroy stood up. Dipper  
looked over to see he had a bowl set in front of Bill. "One vampire fang, a  
merfolk scale, a vial of unicorn tears and ground up fairy wings."

"Good now you just need them." Bill pointed at the Pines.

"I'm aware." Gilroy walked closer and Dipper started to struggle more.  
Gilroy narrowed his eyes and Dipper felt a claw at his throat. He had forgotten  
about the mindshark. Gilroy reached down and plucked a hair from each of them  
except Stan. After Gilroy put the hairs in the rest of the figure's heads he  
walked back over pulling out a knife.

"What are you doing now?" Ford growled.

"I need one more ingredient." Gilroy pointed the knife at Stan.  
"Don't move unless you want to die." He slid the knife along Stan's arm,  
leaving a large gash and caught the dripping blood in a cup that appeared out  
of thin air.

Stan flinched, his face going a little paler as the blood  
continued to spill out.

"Stan heal yourself!" Ford yelled at his brother. "Remember we're  
in the mindscape." Nothing happened for a moment and then the wound was gone,  
Stan was shaking.

"A peaceful death might have been kinder for him." Gilroy  
whispered and then he handed the cup to Bill. He moved out of the circle. "Go  
ahead Bill."

"Here we go!" Bill smirked and poured Stan's blood into the bowl.  
It started to bubble like it was boiling. Dipper watched in a morbid  
fascination. It was almost hypnotic as the contents of the bowl blended  
together and bubbled. The flames suddenly grew larger on the candles and glowed  
blue. Dipper was reminded of the flames that surrounded Bill when he made a  
deal with someone. "One more thing." Bill laughed and pulled out a feather. A  
small red bird's feather. He held it over the liquid and let it drop.

As soon as the feather hit the liquid it burst into blue flames,  
along with the rest of the liquid. Bill moved slightly and stretched out the  
chain pouring the flaming liquid on the chain. For a moment nothing happened  
and then the chain lit up bright red before turning into dust and falling away.  
The candles puffed out and the wax figures melted. The wax stretched out and  
formed two circles around Bill and he began to raise up into the sky and  
started to laugh loudly. Blue flames sparked up his arms.

"AT LAST!" Bill laughed loudly and he snapped his fingers and the earth around them began to shake slightly.

Dipper tensed and braced himself against his family, but he kept his eyes on Bill. Whatever had just happened it didn't seem like a good thing. "What do we do Grunkle Ford?" Dipper whispered.

"I have no idea."

"Are you satisfied?" Gilroy yelled up at Bill, folding his arms over his chest.

Bill calmed down and settled down back a few inches above the ground. "Right, you're free to go Gils."

"What about them?" Gilroy glanced over at the Pines family.

Dipper tensed but Bill waved a hand. "Don't worry about them, they're not your problems anymore."

"Are you going to kill them?" Gilroy's voice was low and almost a whisper.

"Not until this is all over. I want them to see the effect of their failure." Bill was smirking widely. "There is no way they can truly stop me now."

"Very well." Gilroy nodded and then picked up his bag and started walking away. "You made a foolish choice Pines family." He said over his shoulder and then disappeared.

"Now then." Bill turned to the Pines. "What shall I do with you for now?"

"What is your plan Bill?" Ford glared at Bill.

"Now Sixer where is the fun in that?" Bill laughed. "But I promise you, it's gonna be fun!" He waved a hand and a crack formed in the sky. Bill laughed as a view of the real world appeared. Bill flew through it and the crack disappeared.

Dipper shivered and then looked towards the mindshark, it was gone. He sighed in relief and then looked at Ford. "This is going to be bad isn't it?"

"If he connects with his body, yes…. We need to hurry back." Ford struggled in the bindings and then after a few minutes they were all free.

Stan rubbed his arms. "Didn't Bree say if we get knocked out we'll go back to our bodies?"

Ford nodded. "Ready Dipper?"

"Huh?" And then Dipper was seeing flashing lights and he jolted up in his body. He groaned and rubbed his head. He had the worst headache ever. He glanced around at them, it looked normal. Maybe we're okay for now… Dipper thought.

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Bill flew through Gravity Falls laughing to himself. He was finally free. After so many years he was free again. When Stanley Pines had trapped Bill he had used his last resort. He had called upon the name of the beast Axolotal. He wasn't sure what would have happened but when he came to he was trapped… as a bird. Bill had flown around and found his body but he couldn't get into it. His spirit had been chained to the mindscape. It had taken him years to figure out how to get free. It had taken help from his old contact. But now he was free. He spotted his body. It sat untouched in the middle of trees. Bill flew down to it and smirked. "Time for Weirdmogeddon." He reached out to touch the stone leftovers of himself and was repelled by some kind of barrier. "What?"

He fumed and tried again and again. But it didn't work. He hadn't been this frustrated since he had found out that Gravity Falls was surrounded by a barrier that contained the weirdness. He still had to ask Ford about that. "Well now what…" Bill thought. "Guess I'll need some help again." Bill's body flashed with images of the many residences of Gravity Falls. One of them would be able to help… One of them would help him bring about weirdmoggedon. He laughed and then flew off again.


End file.
